SBUMC Opens New And Expanded Facility Dedicated To Comprehensive Care Of 9/11 First Responders

University News


SBUMC Opens New And Expanded Facility Dedicated To Comprehensive Care Of 9/11 First Responders
Medical Monitoring Program Treats 5,000 Patients as the Need Grows



Stony Brook University Medical Center officially opened its new and expanded World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program (WTCMMTP) facility on December 3. The program cares for approximately 5,000 9/11 first responders living on Long Island. At the ribbon cutting, from left: Senator Brian X. Foley; John Feal, First Responder Advocate; Bill Lindsay (behind), Presiding Officer, Suffolk County Legislature; Dr. Benjamin J. Luft, Medical Director, WTCMMTP; Mike Valentin (center), disabled NYPD detective; Dr. Byranna Ramakrishna, WTCMMTP pulmonologist; Assemblyman Michael J. Fitzpatrick; Glen Klein, NYPD retired detective; Kevin Coenen, FDNY; Melodie Guerrera, Administrative Director, WTCMMTP, and Thomas Ryan, disabled NYPD detective.

STONY BROOK, NY-December 12, 2009- Stony Brook University Medical Center has opened a new and expanded World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program (WTCMMTP) facility to care for thousands of 9/11 first responders who continue to suffer from asthma, pulmonary conditions, post-traumatic stress disorders, and other conditions related to their work at ground zero. The WTCMMTP medical staff, patients, and government officials attended a ribbon cutting of the state-of-the-art facility in Islandia, N.Y., on December 3.
In operation since immediately after 9/11, the WTCMMTP is a federally funded program largely supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an arm of the Centers for Disease Control. With an annual budget of more than $8 million, the SBUMC program to date has cared for approximately 5,000 Long Islanders and 9/11 first responders, including police officers, firefighters, and construction workers. The program assists 25-to-30 new patients on average each month.
“We all recollect the horror of September 11, 2001, but out of the aftermath came an army of common people, who were anything but common,” said Benjamin J. Luft, M.D., Medical Director of the WTCMMTP. “Tens of thousands came, policemen, fireman, laborers, fathers, and mothers, ...

Read More