by Margaret Mitchell

(Left to right standing) Assistant Director Jessica Murphy, Executive Director Mendy Hagler, Director of Medicine Dr. David Stevens, Medical Director Dr. William Bateman, and (seated) Dr. Marc Wilkenfeld.

he collapse of the World Trade Center six years ago has created a significant increase in a variety of related illnesses around the city. “Since the 9/11 tragedy, treatment was made available for rescue workers and for cleanup workers,” says Dr. Marc Wilkenfeld, board certified in Occupational Medicine working for the new Gouverneur WTC Environmental Health Center (After 9/11, Dr. Wilkenfeld served on the US Environmental Protection Agency WTC Technical advisory panel).

That leaves out the rest of Manhattan’s residents in and around downtown, who may not have walked through the actual dust cloud emanating from the fallen towers, but whose ongoing exposure has affected their health.

“The big, unmet need since then has been downtown residents. If you live downtown and you call the Mount Sinai program, you’d be told that the program does not cover residents. Downtown, Dr. Joan Reibman started to see residents and office workers in her asthma clinic at Bellevue. Soon enough, there was a huge backlog at Bellevue, waiting to be seen. In response, local officials Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senator Clinton, Congressmembers Maloney and Nadler and Councilmember Gerson, together with local groups like Beyond Ground Zero, persuaded the city to take the initiative and provide additional funding to have 9/11 related diseases evaluated and treated.”

With City funding, the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation has expanded the Bellevue WTC Environmental Health Center to Gouverneur Healthcare Services downtown and to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.

The problem is, according to the center’s officials, that there are no unique symptoms of WTC related illness. Here is a list of the most common symptoms:

Chronic cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, nasal congestion and other nasal and sinus symptoms

Acid reflux and heartburn

Skin irritation

Depression, anxiety, nightmares

Doctors everywhere treat a chronic cough caused by 9/11 exactly as they would a chronic cough brought on by any other source. For now, a mere six years after the event, no one is prepared to identify a unique, WTC-related agent, which would distinguish its sufferers from everyone else who has trouble breathing, a problem digestive system, skin issues, and so on. There isn’t even broad, universally accepted scientific data that would connect with certainty the increase in those illnesses in the metropolitan area and the event of 9/11.

“Together with our other city partners at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, and at Bellevue, we’re creating a common data set as to what are the problems people come to us for, how we treat them and with what results,” says Gouverneur’s Medical Director, Dr. William Bateman. “Through that, we’ll be able to give much clearer answers. Some of it we’ll be able to relate with a fair amount of probability to WTC problems, and some we won’t. But through this effort we’ll be in a much better position to inform New York City and the community as to what are the issues to be watching out for.”

Unfortunately, the city cannot sit and wait for the scientific studies to confirm what health officials already suspect: Many more New York City residents have been sick since the attack six years ago.

“We have heard from residents that they are experiencing symptoms that they feel may be related to WTC,” says Gillian Fein, Gouverneur’s Director of Marketing and Development. “Our Dr. Judy Su has done some workshops on the state of post-9/11 health and about our environmental health center here. This is how we educate community members who may not even have a primary care doctor, about the existence of our center. When they come here, they’re asked to fill out an evaluation form which asks them simple questions: Where were you on 9/11? do you live downtown? Based on your answers you can make an appointment to be seen by a doctor, and if you don’t have a doctor you can meet directly with Dr. Su. You’ll get a full checkup, and whether or not you qualify for the WTC program, you can still be seen as a Gouverneur patient.”

WTC-related treatment in the new program is provided at no cost, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.

“Our goal is to ensure that as many people as will qualify for the program will get care, because that is our mission,” says Gouverneur Executive Director Mendy Hagler. “This is another way of making sure that people who otherwise would not come for care will be treated.”

What about children?

“Bellevue is in the process of hiring a pediatrician to focus in on 9/11 cases,” says Hagler. “Our center does not have a dedicated staff for 9/11-related pediatrics, but we’re going to see as the flow occurs and if in fact children are coming in and it warrants more staff and resources, we’ll ask for them.”

“Some of the illnesses that we see respond well to medication and some don’t,” says Director of the Department of Medicine at Gouverneur Dr. David Stevens. “For the latter we’re looking for approaches to help them improve their physical function. Somebody may have restrictive lung disease which limits their ability to walk, to work. We’re looking for ways to get them back to exercising, to keep them working. We’re offering an exercise program here.”

“We have a growing body of experience in the types of problems that people complain about and the types of therapy that they respond to,” says Dr. Bateman. “We’re well hooked in with that experience with our partners at Bellevue Hospital, who have been doing WTCrelated care for a number of years now. We combine that with our own model of good, solid primary care.”

To find out more or to make an appointment, call toll free 877.WTC.0107 or 212.238.7400. 227 Madison Street.