Honoring Cicero

One month from tomorrow is the 19th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.  While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way in which this year's ceremony shall happen, the great people at the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation have stepped up to make sure that the names of all 2,977 people killed on September 11, 2001 shall be read aloud at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan.  

Starting tomorrow in this space and continuing through Friday, September 11, 2020, this space shall be devoted to honoring the memory of one of those souls murdered on a bright, sun-soaked Tuesday morning in September nineteen years ago.  

In a very small way, in this insignificant corner of the virtual universe, Cicero's directive shall be adhered to and it shall be honored.  

In the nineteen years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, countless first responders who responded to Ground Zero that day and then remained there for days, weeks, or months thereafter working to recover those who had died there, have been stricken with a dizzying array of illnesses and ailments, which have killed far, far too many of them thus far and shall undoubtedly kill more of them.  As if they have not suffered enough, researchers have now linked exposure to the toxins in the air and on the debris at Ground Zero to dementia. 

Unfortunately, while those suffering from psychological conditions, including but not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder, receive free health treatment and are eligible for disability pensions through the World Trade Center Health Program, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Fund does not provide financial compensation to them. 

Perhaps, now, with this newly-discovered link, the Fund shall re-examine that position.  The WTC Health Program has approximately 80,000 first responders registered to it.  More than 12,000 of them, which is roughly fifteen percent of the Program's members, have been diagnosed with PTSD or another mental-health condition.  

-AK