Those with Ground Zero health issues urged to register with victims fund

Syosset volunteer firefighter Court Cousins says he is alive today because of the benefits provided by the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Cousins, who responded to Ground Zero, was later diagnosed with leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, linked to the toxic air in lower Manhattan nearly 20 years ago.

Now, with a key deadline looming to register with the fund, Cousins and other 9/11 advocates are sounding the alarm, urging New Yorkers dealing with Ground Zero-related health issues to register with the VCF, which provides financial assistance with medical monitoring, treatment and medication and helps compensate victims for the financial impact of the illness.

"It only takes just a few minutes to open an account. It doesn't cost any money," Cousins said at a news conference Thursday at the Nassau Firefighters Museum and Education Center’s 9/11 Remembrance Exhibit in Garden City. "It's very easy."

Individuals who were certified by the World Trade Center Health Program for a Ground Zero-related illness before July 29, 2019, but who never registered with the fund, and those seeking to collect compensation on behalf of a loved one who died of a 9/11 ailment before that date have until July 29 to register with the fund.

The deadline does not apply to individuals who might become sick in the future or who are not yet enrolled in the WTC Health Program.

To be eligible, an individual must prove they were in the exposure zone, or along the debris removal route, from the time of the 2001 attacks through May 30, 2002, and have a 9/11-related illness or injury certified by the WTC Health Program.

The program has linked 68 kinds of cancer and a host of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses to the pollutants in the air after the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Registrants need only to go online and provide their name, date of birth and Social Security number to begin the process.

John Feal of Nesconset, a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero who had part of his left foot amputated after a 4-ton steel beam landed on it, said more people have now died from a 9/11-related illness than were killed in the 2001 attacks, including at least 250 in the past year.

"As we get older and we are evolving for the worse, it's getting harder for these men in uniform, and not in uniform, to fight these illnesses," said Feal, whose Feal Good Foundation pressured officials to expand eligibility for first responders. "We take this seriously."

With Howard Schnapp