City plans to expand WTC environmental health center

Real Estate Weekly, Oct 3, 2007

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) president Alan Aviles announced that the World Trade Center (WTC) Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital, the City-funded program offering free, high quality health services to people experiencing health problems as a result of 9/11, is expanding to two additional locations.

The new sites, at Gouverneur Healthcare Services in Lower Manhattan and Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, will allow the WTC Environmental Health Center to treat up to 20,000 patients over the next five years. Expanding the Bellevue Hospital program was one of the key recommendations made in Addressing the Health Impacts of 9/11, the report and recommendations Bloomberg accepted in February. Another key recommendation made in the report was to aggressively seek federal funding to sustain the WTC program at Bellevue and two other 9/11 Health Centers of Excellence, and expand 9/l 1-related mental health services and medical research.

The WTC Environmental Health Center has now expanded from its original site at Bellevue Hospital in Midtown Manhattan to two new locations: Gouverneur Healthcare Services in Lower Manhattan and Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. Under the direction of the program at Bellevue, the two new sites will treat those experiencing health problems as a result of exposure to dust and smoke from the WTC attack. The expanded WTC Environmental Health Center is a resource for all New Yorkers and others affected by 9/11 related health conditions, regardless of insurance or immigration status. The Center was established in 2006; though Bellevue has been treating WTC-affected patients since the 9/11 attacks.

The Center works in close partnership with community organizations, labor groups and residents affected by 9/I1. The program is designed for people who lived in Lower Manhattan and areas of Brooklyn, went to school in the area, worked in or around area offices, stores, schools, or apartment buildings, and who helped in the cleanup of buildings in the affected area.

Evaluation, comprehensive medical treatment and most medications for WTC-related illnesses are provided at no cost to those who qualify. The WTC Environmental Health Center staff make referrals to other clinical services for any medical needs identified but not related to WTC exposure. To date, most of the health problems have been related to respiratory issues.