Poll reveals 9/11's lasting impact on daily lives of those surveyed, particularly among Long Islanders

Just days from the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, poll results released Tuesday found that two-thirds of local residents said their lives were permanently changed by the aftermath — a sentiment even stronger among Long Islanders.

About 66% of respondents to the poll, conducted by the Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital, said the attacks changed their daily lives either somewhat or a great deal: 65% among New York City residents and 67% among Long Islanders.

The poll also found a quarter of respondents report mental problems or trauma connected to 9/11 — 26% in New York City and 22% on Long Island.

"I think that the psychological impacts, depending on the age of the person and the experience they had, have been everlasting," Dr. Josh Kugler, Mount Sinai South Nassau’s interim president, told Newsday on Monday, and "very difficult to quantify, but, you know, certainly palpable."

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, in lower Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in western Pennsylvania. A total of 2,753 people were killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Of those, close to 500 were Long Islanders.

Kugler was an emergency room doctor that day at Mount Sinai South Nassau, and still practices medicine.

"Like everyone else, we were very prepared for something that never really panned out," he said. "You didn’t see any patients."

On Tuesday, the poll’s findings were the centerpiece of a 10:30 a.m. panel discussion about 9/11 at the Oceanside Library theater, 30 Davison Ave. There,  the panel included Tom Von Essen, the FDNY commissioner on 9/11; Phil Alvarez, a 9/11 advocate and brother of Luis Alvarez, a retired NYPD detective who was sickened and later died of a Ground Zero toxin-caused disease; Joe Calderone, a Mount Sinai South Nassau executive who was a New York Daily News reporter on 9/11; and  Dr. Aaron Glatt, th e hospital’s chairman of medicine. Calderone has written historical fiction based on the 343 FDNY personnel who died responding to the attacks.

The group weighed in on increasing access to healthcare for those in need of medical treatment for conditions such as cancer or mental illness. Panelists also delved into themes of vigilance against future terrorist acts and the importance of keeping 9/11 as part of the nation's collective memory. 

"We can't ever let 9/11 become a historical finding, like we read about other historical events from the Middle Ages; it has to be at the top of our agenda every single day," Glatt said. 

Alvarez noted: "The best way I feel that you can honor the memory of what happened 25 years ago is to take care of each other."

The poll was of 600 adults ages 30 and older in New York City and on the Island. It was run by the national pollster LJR Custom Strategies of New Orleans, and conducted from Aug. 5 to Aug. 10 via cellphones and landlines. There is a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

The results were broadly similar, regardless of region, although there were slight variations. Some of the differences were within the margin of error.

For example, while 26% of surveyed Long Islanders reported personally knowing someone killed on 9/11, the figure was 23% overall and 22% in New York City.

One question asked, "Should the federal government continue to fund no-cost, periodic medical monitoring/treatment to those with certified 9/11 health conditions?" Eighty-seven percent of respondents overall said yes, mirroring New York City, but it was 86% among Long Islanders.

The questions were devised by a committee comprising Kugler, Glatt, communications staff and other clinical experts, said Mount Sinai South Nassau spokesperson Dana Sanneman.

It’s the 30th poll by the hospital, which has conducted the survey series since 2017. Other topics have included alcohol use, social media, vaccines and mental health.

Newsday's Tiffany Cusaac-Smith contributed to this story.