9/11 sickened workers attend support group

They came to listen and learn about 9/11-related illnesses, and to share what they have in common: hopes and fears about their future health.

More than 800 9/11 responders and their family members attended a Manhattan health and education conference to get medical information and updates on what health care will be available after the Zadroga Act takes effect this summer. Saturday's conference was organized by the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, which conducts periodic health assessments and provides medical care for specific conditions linked to 9/11.

Pat Boland, 56, a registered nurse from Cedarhurst who volunteered at the WTC site from 6 a.m. the day after the attacks, said she attended to network with others. "I want to know what they have in store for managing our health care," she said. "As a volunteer, I don't have firefighter buddies or cops to share the experience with so I feel very disengaged from those support systems."

Like many pile workers, Boland has restrictive airway disease and had tumors removed from her sinuses. She suffers gastro-reflux disease for which she underwent another surgery three years ago. She said monitoring doctors had diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder.

David Jacobs, 46, of Rego Park, Queens, suffers respiratory and reflux ailments though he said he had no symptoms for the first few years after he worked at the site. "I have a baby now, she's 17 months -- it's scary. I wonder what the future holds for me, I want to be able to walk her down the aisle."

Pat Lang, 62, of New Jersey, another registered nurse who volunteered at the site, said she didn't consider herself sick or disabled despite sinus problems, asthma, chronic sore throats and gastric problems since working amid the toxic dust. "I just worry about the future -- especially now people are really showing signs of serious illness."

Joseph Benbow, a Manhattan cleanup worker who also volunteered, said he hardly called in sick to work pre-9/11. Since then, he's been diagnosed with heart disease and respiratory problems and has been unemployed for periods. Still, he worries less for himself than friends from the pile stricken with cancer: Two have died. "I hoped to hear the program would be able to include conditions such as cancer -- so far, I'm disappointed," he said.

Participants heard from John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and medical doctors with the monitoring program at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Many lined up to ask questions as the conference broke into sessions to focus on different physical and mental health conditions.

Boland, now a nurse with the Lawrence school district, was moved by her experiences at Ground Zero to volunteer in disaster relief and was in New Orleans when Katrina hit.She went on to volunteer in three other hurricanes that same season.

In a break in seminars Saturday, the mother of daughters aged 24 and 27 said: "It's a funny feeling. I often wonder, will we be like the next Vietnam vets -- here but not here?"