With lessons learned from 9/11 so widely, recently and painfully recounted, the story of suffering and loss that continue for more than 100,000 fellow Americans must not be forgotten. We cannot lose sight of it as if seeing it through a rear-view mirror, fading in the distance. We need to keep these fellow citizens front and center.
According to Time magazine, the World Trade Center Health Program, founded in 2010 as part of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, serves 112,042 members nationwide. Their membership includes 64,429 general responders, 17,031 firefighters and 30,582 survivors. Of these, 65,307 members have at least one certified debilitating health condition and remain badly in need of care. Some, even with treatment, will never recover.