Staten Island Reporter

(STATEN ISLAND, NY) - This week, Rep Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) and former Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D, NY-12) toured Mount Sinai’s Staten Island World Trade Center Health Program Clinic on Richmond Road.

Malliotakis, who is an original cosponsor of the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2023, bipartisan legislation that addresses the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program's impending funding shortfall, toured the clinic to see firsthand the work being done under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation act of 2010, which Maloney guided through Congress during her tenure.

"Unless Congress acts, the World Trade Center Health Program will have to close the program to new enrollees by 2027," Malliotakis said. "Our bipartisan legislation will address the program's impending budget shortfall that's being caused by the precipitous rise in overall medical costs and cancer rates over the last four years. Congress has a solution to this problem and I encourage my colleagues to pass this bill as quickly as possible to keep Mount Sinai's clinic, and the program’s other Clinical Centers, open and support the brave men and women who put their lives on the line and survived the worst terror attack in our nation's history. Carolyn Maloney was the leader in getting Zadroga established in 2010 and I look forward to carrying this mantle to make sure our heroes continue to receive the care they deserve."

Thousands of Staten Islanders responded to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. Many of these responders developed WTC-related medical conditions and participated in the early WTC Screening and Treatment Programs, which were primarily located in Manhattan. Community leaders in Staten Island, particularly Congressman (now Borough President) Vito Fossella, petitioned leaders of the Programs at Mount Sinai to open a Staten Island location.

The Clinic’s current location at 2052 Richmond Road opened in 2017, and has been the WTC Staten Island home for 3,500 WTC responders, over 60% of whom have at least one WTC-related medical condition, and 900 of whom have at least one WTC-related cancer. It offers WTC Monitoring and Treatment examinations including telehealth services, and subspecialty care is also conveniently available.

"I am delighted to join Congresswoman Malliotakis in support of this important program," former Rep. Carolyn Maloney said. "It was one of my heartfelt, determined accomplishments in Congress and I want to make sure it continues to serve the 9/11 heroes and heroines of Staten Island and the city at large. I know with Rep. Malliotakis's commitment, the program will continue to thrive and save lives."

"We were delighted to host Representative Malliotakis and former Representative Maloney at the Mount Sinai WTC Health Program Clinical Center in Staten Island this week, and are grateful for their strong and unwavering support of the WTC Health Program," said Dr. Michael Crane, Director of the WTCHP Clinical Center of Excellence.

Specifically, the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2023:

• Provides additional funding for the program through FY2033 to cover program costs. It also sets out a new formula to determine funding amounts for the program from FY2034 through FY2090.
• Expands eligibility for the program to include members of the Armed Forces and federal employees and contractors who provided rescue, recovery, demolition, debris clean-up, or related services in response to the attacks at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA on September 11, 2001. The bill limits the enrollment of newly eligible individuals in the program to 500 at any given time.
• Allows certain health care providers other than physicians to determine whether an individual's health condition is related to an attack.
• Makes the program administrator (rather than the centers that collect and analyze health data generated from the program) responsible for establishing criteria for credentialing health care providers that participate in the program.

Original source can be found here.