FDNY Insider- Bureau of Health Services
World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program
Program Overview
What’s new?
The FDNY WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program is pleased to announce a new program to provide eligible FDNY rescue workers (Fire & EMS; active & retired) with FREE WTC medications. Approved medications will involve NO member co-pay. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Mission
The mission of the FDNY World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program (FDNY-WTC-MMTP) is to evaluate and treat individual FDNY members, both active and retired, who were involved in recovery work at the WTC sites. The FDNY-WTC-MMTP develops plans for current and future monitoring and treatment needs by analyzing patterns of illness. This information is then used to answer central questions about the health effects of WTC exposures. Monitoring and treatment are an outgrowth and expansion of what the FDNY Bureau of Health Services (BHS) does everyday, helping you to improve your health and wellness through annual medical evaluations, injury/illness evaluations, and treatment.
History/Funding
In October 2001, only four weeks after the attack, BHS began performing medical screenings on our rescue workers with funding provided by the FDNY. This was the first comprehensive post-WTC exposure medical performed by any workforce or medical institution. In November of 2001, the CDC granted $4.8 million to FDNY to help fund this program from 2002 to 2004. This funding allowed the FDNY-WTC-MMTP to include retirees who were part of the WTC recovery effort that had been previously excluded from BHS monitoring and treatment. BHS co-designed the FDNY-WTC-MMTP with the UFA, UFOA, and EMS Locals 2507 and 3621. By February 2002, BHS had conducted medical screening examinations on nearly 10,000 FDNY rescue workers (Fire and EMS; active and retired).
In July 2004, BHS received $25 million from CDC/NIOSH to expand its monitoring program for an additional 5 years (2004-2009). Since July 2005, certain specialized WTC treatments have been provided by supplemental funding from a September 11th Recovery Grant from the American Red Cross (ARC) Liberty Disaster Relief Fund. Both our Commissioner and union leadership have been instrumental in helping BHS obtain funding for the FDNY-WTC-MMTP. As of December 31st, 2006, over 14,245 FDNY WTC rescue workers have had monitoring medical examinations (including 3,848 retirees), and over 8,000 have received follow-up monitoring exams.