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World Trade Center Health Program

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The World Trade Center Health Program (WTC Health Program) provides medical benefits to specific groups of individuals who were affected by the September 11 attacks in 2001 against the United States . The WTC Health Program was established by Title I of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (Zadroga Act), P.L. 111-347, which amended the Public Health Service Act . The United States Congress passed the bill in December 2010 and United States President Barack Obama signed it into law on January 2, 2011. The Zadroga Act required the WTC Health Program to begin administering medical benefits on July 1, 2011. On December 18, 2015, the Zadroga Act was reauthorized to provide medical benefits to affected individuals until 2090. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) , within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , administers the program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is component of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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128-566: The collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, (9/11) caused physical hazards as well as massive dust cloud , consisting of pulverized building materials, electronic equipment, and furniture to blanket the World Trade Center site and the surrounding area. Many 9/11 responders, local workers, and resident survivors have since developed respiratory diseases, digestive disorders, cancers, or mental health disorders as

256-465: A B-25 bomber that was lost in fog had crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building . A year later, a C-45F Expeditor crashed into the 40 Wall Street building. Once again, fog was believed to have been the contributing factor in the collision. Leslie Robertson , one of the chief engineers working on the design of the World Trade Center, said that he considered the scenario of

384-646: A New York Police Department officer and 9/11 responder who had fallen ill following the terrorist attacks and died of lung disease in 2006. James Zadroga would become the namesake of the federal bill that created the WTC Health Program in 2011. Originally introduced in 2006 and eventually made law in 2011, the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 funds and establishes a health program to provide medical treatment for responders and survivors who experienced or may experience health complications related to

512-480: A $ 6.2 billion version of the bill paid for in part by closing a corporate tax loophole and in part by a 2% excise tax on foreign goods that did not include countries with international procurement agreements with the U.S. On December 22, 2010, Congress approved the final bill, which allocated $ 4.2 billion towards the program, and President Barack Obama signed the Zadroga Act into law on January 2, 2011. This act created

640-505: A Boeing 707 or DC 8 flying at 600 mph (970 km/h). In 1993, John Skilling , lead structural engineer for the WTC, said in an interview conducted after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing : "Our analysis indicated the biggest problem would be the fact that all the fuel would dump into the building. There would be a horrendous fire. A lot of people would be killed. The building structure would still be there." In its report, NIST stated that

768-585: A broader transparency initiative, HHC voluntarily reported health and safety data for 2008, showing significant declines in infection and mortality rates across its participating hospitals on its website. Procedures across HHC hospitals and centers, however, are largely unstandardized and conditions vary widely. On February 5, 2009, the plaintiffs in the May 2007 lawsuit issued a joint statement acknowledging that reforms had been implemented but stating that further reforms are needed. Plaintiffs stated: [T]he hospital remains

896-657: A comprehensive electronic health record (also known as an electronic medical record ). HHC public hospitals have won the Nicholas E. Davies award for the use of clinical information technology. HHC President Alan Aviles received the CEO IT Achievement Award from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and Modern Healthcare Magazine for leading use of information technology to advance healthcare excellence. And HHC's North Bronx Healthcare Network

1024-689: A consequence, New York City hospitals saw patient numbers and funding decline precipitously. According to a 1967 study just two years later, the conditions and quality of care at public hospitals in New York City were deplorable. In 1969, New York State created HHC to replace the city's Department of Hospitals in operating city hospitals and other health care facilities. HHC was formed as a quasi public agency to enable it to benefit from private revenues and funding. HCC's fiscal condition nevertheless has varied periodically since its formation, and it has gone through periods of instability. In June 1970 it took over

1152-641: A covered health condition relating to the 9/11 attacks. Collapse of the World Trade Center The World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan , New York City, was destroyed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda 's terror attacks . Two commercial airliners hijacked by terrorists were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the complex, resulting in a total progressive collapse that killed almost 3,000 people. It

1280-454: A dangerous place where patient health and safety is at risk on a daily basis. … Clearly, much more works needs to be done. The federal government's involvement brings a vast array of expertise and resources, and we look forward to working with the DOJ and the U.S. Attorney's Office in our efforts to make Kings County Hospital a safe, effective, and therapeutic environment in which New Yorkers can receive

1408-583: A dozen adjacent and nearby structures were damaged or destroyed by debris from the plane impacts or the collapses. Four of the five remaining World Trade Center structures were immediately crushed or damaged beyond repair as the towers fell, while 7 World Trade Center remained standing for another six hours until fires ignited by raining debris from the North Tower brought it down at 5:21 that afternoon. The hijackings, crashes, fires and subsequent collapses killed an initial total of 2,760 people . Toxic powder from

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1536-432: A draft paper with results of a simple analysis of the World Trade Center collapse. Bažant suggested that heat from the fires was a key factor, causing steel columns in both the core and the perimeter to weaken and experience deformation before losing their carrying capacity and buckling. Once more than half of the columns on a particular floor buckled, the overhead structure could no longer be supported and complete collapse of

1664-595: A field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania , following an attempt by the passengers to retake control of the plane. No one in the airliners survived. As of 2011, approximately 18,000 people have received medical treatment for illnesses related to toxic dust from the World Trade Center site. A study of rescue workers released in April 2010 found that all those studied had impaired lung functions, and that 30–40% were reporting little or no improvement in persistent symptoms that started within

1792-542: A first-place ranking among all New York City hospitals, public or private. On September 30, 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded HHC a $ 10 million grant to be administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The grant, which will provide up to $ 30 million over three years, is to provide health services to non-responder populations in New York City affected by

1920-436: A growing number of uninsured patients. Alan Aviles, HHC President, said regarding the cuts, "We can try and ensure that patients who are adversely affected can be linked to alternative care. That, of course, will become more and more difficult as we have to dig deeper and deeper." Local DC 37, a union representing some of HHC's 30,000 workers, announced: If there is one thing that should be obvious in this economic climate it

2048-459: A half. As Flight 175 struck the South Tower, the shockwave shattered glass on the east face of the North Tower adjacent to the fireball, which aggravated the fires already burning in the North Tower and released plumes of smoke from the newly opened windows. It is unknown whether Flight 11's impact did the same to windows on the South Tower. In any case, the major debris from Flight 11 flew past

2176-416: A long and short span distance to the perimeter columns. The floors consisted of 4 in-thick (10 cm) lightweight concrete slabs laid on a fluted steel deck. A grid of lightweight bridging trusses and main trusses supported the floors with shear connections to the concrete slab for composite action . The trusses had a span of 60 ft (18 m) in the long-span areas and 35 ft (11 m) in

2304-591: A process whereby the Administrator of the WTC Health Program may consider petitions by interested parties to add new conditions to the list of those covered by the WTC Health Program. In June 2012, Administrator Dr. John Howard proposed adding certain types of cancer as recommended by the WTC Health Program Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee, in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Many types of cancer were officially added to

2432-700: A result of the collapse included 342 members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), 71 law enforcement officers including 23 members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD), five members of the New York State Office of Tax Enforcement (OTE), three officers of the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA), one fire marshal of

2560-533: A result of these toxic exposures. The WTC Health Program provides screening and treatment for a specific list of 9/11-related conditions. On September 11, 2001 , 19 terrorists associated with the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets in a series of suicide attacks on the United States, killing 2,996 people and injuring more than 6,000 others . Hijackers flew planes into two main towers of

2688-458: A structural engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley , explained that the high temperatures in the fires weakened the steel beams and columns, causing them to become "soft and mushy", and eventually they were unable to support the structure above. Astaneh-Asl also suggested that the fireproofing became dislodged during the initial aircraft impacts. He also explained that, once

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2816-400: A total collapse, the collapses could have begun with the failure of any story. The towers collapsed symmetrically and more or less straight down, though there was some tilting of the tops of the towers and a significant amount of fallout to the sides. As the collapse progressed, dust and debris could be seen shooting out of the windows several floors below the advancing destruction, caused by

2944-467: Is going to come down very shortly"; this proved correct less than a minute later, when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., one hour and 42 minutes after being struck. Because all escape routes from within, above, and immediately below the impact zone were severed when Flight 11 crashed, no one above the 91st floor survived. The collapsing towers generated enormous clouds of dust and debris, which enveloped lower Manhattan; light dust reached as far as

3072-533: Is housed at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai . The FDNY houses a data center for its health program. And the survivor clinics have a data center at the NYC Health + Hospitals WTC Environmental Health Center. The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act also provides monitoring and treatment for eligible responders to the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania who have, or may have,

3200-505: Is that layoffs are not a solution but only compound the problems we're facing. District Council 37 will address this issue aggressively. We are talking to the State to make sure that the federal stimulus moneys are used for the purpose for which they are intended. Cutbacks will include four school-based health programs, three community clinics, two mental health day treatment programs, and the consolidation of three other hospital-based programs. At

3328-463: Is the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States with $ 10.9 billion in annual revenues, serving 1.4 million patients, including more than 475,000 uninsured city residents, providing services interpreted in more than 190 languages. The organization is headquartered at 125 Worth Street in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan. NYC Health + Hospitals operates 11 hospitals across

3456-625: Is what people are dying from." Many of the 55 responders who died from cancer had cancer before September 11, 2001, but most of the cancer patients developed the disease afterward. In 2002, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, both the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the American Red Cross provided grants to launch the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program (MMTP) in response to individuals developing health issues related to

3584-842: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the New York City Health Department launched the World Trade Center Health Registry in collaboration with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. By tracking and investigating illnesses, the WTC Health Registry strives to monitor the health of people exposed to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The WTC Health Registry continues to release annual reports on new findings regarding

3712-699: The American Institute of Steel Construction , the American Concrete Institute , the National Fire Protection Association , and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers . ASCE ultimately invited FEMA to join the investigation, which was completed under the auspices of the latter. The investigation was criticized by some engineers and lawmakers in the U.S. It had little funding, no authority to demand evidence, and limited access to

3840-697: The Borough of Manhattan Community College 's Fiterman Hall building, located adjacent at 30 West Broadway, to the extent that the building was not salvageable. In August 2007, Fiterman Hall was scheduled for dismantling. A revised plan called for demolition in 2009 and completion of the new Fiterman Hall in 2012, at a cost of $ 325 million. The building was finally demolished in November 2009 and construction of its replacement began on December 1, 2009. The adjacent Verizon Building , an Art Deco building constructed in 1926, had extensive damage to its east facade from

3968-478: The Empire State Building , 2.93 mi (4.72 km) away. The debris cloud from the North Tower collapse was also larger and more widespread than that of the South Tower, because the collapse of the North also kicked up dust from the South Tower. As the North Tower collapsed, heavy debris hit 7 World Trade Center, causing damage to the south face of the building and starting fires that continued to burn throughout

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4096-452: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the results of its investigation into the collapse . It found nothing substandard in the towers' design, noting that the severity of the attacks was beyond anything experienced by buildings in the past. The NIST determined the fires to be the main cause of the collapses, finding that sagging floors pulled inward on the perimeter columns, causing them to bow and then buckle. Once

4224-530: The New York University College of Medicine . In 1920, Bellevue founded the Children's Psychiatric Service, the first program in the United States devoted to the study of child autism and training child psychiatrists. Bellevue continues to provide through this day comprehensive pediatric services and renowned psychiatric services, as well as highly regarded emergency and trauma services. Bellevue remains

4352-459: The Verizon Building , and 3 World Financial Center had impact damage from the towers' collapse, as did 90 West Street. One Liberty Plaza survived structurally intact but sustained surface damage including shattered windows. 30 West Broadway was damaged by the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. The Deutsche Bank Building, which was covered in a large black "shroud" after September 11 to cover

4480-434: The World Trade Center , resulting in the collapse of three buildings of the World Trade Center complex, and the Pentagon , resulting in the partial destruction of the western side in the building. The resulting dust cloud due to the collapse of the World Trade Center covered Manhattan for days and contained thousands of tons of toxic debris, including asbestos and other known carcinogens. Another hijacked plane crashed into

4608-399: The "North Tower", was, at 1,368 ft (417 m), six feet taller than Two World Trade Center (WTC 2), the "South Tower", which was 1,362 ft (415 m) tall. Numerous closely spaced perimeter columns provided much of the structural strength, along with gravity load shared with the steel box columns of the core. Above the tenth floor, there were 59 perimeter columns along each face of

4736-443: The 10th and 13th floors, a sign that the building was unstable and might cave to one side or "collapse". During the afternoon, firefighters also heard creaking sounds coming from the building and issued uncertain reports about damage in the basement. Around 3:30 pm FDNY Chief Daniel A. Nigro decided to halt rescue operations, surface removal, and searches along the surface of the debris near 7 World Trade Center and evacuate

4864-767: The 9/11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon or in Shanksville, PA. New York City responders include active or retired members of the Fire Department of New York City (whether fire or emergency personnel); Police Department of New York City (whether active or retired); Port Authority Police of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; employees of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City and other morgue workers involved in handling human remains; workers in

4992-476: The 9/11 terrorist attacks. Senator Bob Menendez and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney initially co-sponsored the bill, which failed to pass in 2006. The U.S. House passed a new version of the act in September 2010. In a Senate vote held on December 9, 2010, Democrats were unable to break a Republican filibuster against the bill. With only 57 votes to end the Senate filibuster and an incoming influx of Republicans in

5120-456: The 90-something floor" had collapsed. The New York City Police Department aviation unit also relayed information about the deteriorating condition of the buildings to police commanders. At 9:51 a.m., seven minutes before the collapse, the NYPD aviation unit reported that large pieces of debris were hanging or falling from the South Tower. The implied threat of an imminent collapse was sufficient for

5248-538: The 91st floor and left the stranded workers in an insufferable inferno from which jumping was their only means of escape; Flight 175 struck the South Tower through the southeast corner of the skyscraper's southern facade and left the northwesternmost stairwell undamaged from top to bottom. The intact stairway meant people in the South Tower were not completely trapped, which may have influenced their decision to jump. The fireballs resulting from each impact were likely very similar, but appeared vastly different in size despite

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5376-474: The NYPD to order its officers to evacuate, although none of the helicopter pilots specifically predicted that either tower would fall. During the emergency response, there was little communication between the NYPD and the FDNY , and overwhelmed 9-1-1 dispatchers did not pass along information to FDNY commanders at the scene. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed, 56 minutes after Flight 175 crashed into it. Before

5504-792: The New York City Chief Medical Examiner’s Office). Other workers and volunteers must have responded in lower Manhattan, including Ground Zero, the Staten Island Landfill, or the barge loading piers. The program also provides medical treatment for survivors who were present in the New York City Disaster Area in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks because of work, residence, or attendance at school, child care, or adult day care. Survivors also include individuals who happened to be present in this area on 9/11. The New York City Disaster Area includes

5632-666: The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) who had sworn law enforcement powers (and was also among the 343 FDNY members killed), one member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and one member of the United States Secret Service (USSS). The total death toll for civilian and non-civilians is estimated to be 2,606 persons. The destruction of the Twin Towers has been called "the most infamous paradigm" of progressive collapse . Each collapse began with

5760-477: The New York City area can receive care through the Nationwide Provider Network, which is national network of healthcare providers associated with WTC Health Program. More information can be found on their website. [1] There are three data centers that are responsible for collecting, managing and analyzing the health data generated from the medical program. The data center for 9/11 responder clinics

5888-437: The New York City disaster area after September 11. Responders include members of the Fire Department of New York City who participated in the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center sites, as well as other workers, law enforcement officers, and volunteers who participated in the 9/11 response efforts in New York City. Also included are members of fire and police departments, other workers and volunteers who responded to

6016-620: The New York Civil Liberties Union, and Kirkland & Ellis, a private law firm, filed a lawsuit against Kings County Hospital. The plaintiffs charged that its psychiatric unit was "a chamber of filth, decay, indifference and danger." The May 2007 lawsuit alleged that patients at the Kings County Hospital "are subjected to overcrowded and squalid conditions often accompanied by physical abuse and unnecessary and punitive injections of mind-altering drugs." In December 2007,

6144-517: The North Tower was not going to last much longer and recommended that emergency vehicles be pulled away from the complex. At 10:20 a.m., the NYPD aviation unit reported that "the top of the tower might be leaning", and a minute later confirmed that the North Tower was buckling on the southwest corner and leaning to the south, prompting an officer to begin urging all NYPD personnel in the building's vicinity to retreat at least three blocks in every direction. The aviation unit declared at 10:27 "the roof

6272-489: The Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporate Tunnel; vehicle maintenance workers exposed to debris; and other workers or volunteers who assisted in the rescue, recovery, debris cleanup or related services. Members of the New York City Fire Department must have participated in the rescue and recovery effort at any of the former World Trade Center sites (including Ground Zero, Staten Island Landfill, and

6400-429: The South Tower collapsed, 18 people escaped from the impact zone and the floors above, including Stanley Praimnath , who had seen the plane coming at him. They made it out via Stairwell A, the only stairway left intact after the crash. There may have been other previously trapped occupants who were descending from the impact zone when the tower collapsed. Numerous police hotline operators who received calls from people in

6528-433: The South Tower fell, NYPD helicopters relayed information about the deteriorating conditions of the North Tower, while FDNY commanders issued orders for firefighters in the North Tower to evacuate. Poor radio reception meant firefighters inside the North Tower did not hear the evacuation order from their supervisors on the scene, and most were unaware that the other tower had collapsed. An NYPD officer said at 10:06 a.m. that

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6656-536: The South Tower was attacked and standing another half-hour after the South Tower collapsed. This was because Flight 11 struck more or less in the center, causing more symmetrical impact damage to the North Tower's core and leaving more of its structural support intact. The fires also took more than an hour to spread to the south side of the building, where there was fireproofing damage. Traveling at 440 miles per hour, Flight 11 crashed through Floors 93 and 99, leaving only 10 floors' worth of structural weight pressing down on

6784-451: The South Tower were not well informed of the situation as it rapidly unfolded. Many operators told callers not to descend on their own, even though it is now believed that Stairwell A was probably passable at and above the point of impact. The South Tower's collapse shattered windows and damaged other exterior elements along the North Tower's southern and eastern facades, although this was insufficient to cause its subsequent collapse. After

6912-450: The South Tower, while the more significant pieces of wreckage from Flight 175 similarly missed the already burning North Tower. In both instances, some of these parts landed on other nearby buildings, resulting in further destruction. The fires in each building had different attributes, as was evident in the responses and behavior of people trapped in each. Countless windows in the North Tower were smashed by occupants seeking relief from

7040-680: The Twin Towers' replacement, the new One World Trade Center , which opened in 2014. When they opened in 1973, the Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world. At the time of the attacks, only the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , and the Willis Tower (known then as the Sears Tower) in Chicago were taller. Built with a novel "framed tube" design that maximized interior space,

7168-580: The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York began a separate investigation. In June 2008, the plaintiffs in the May 2007 lawsuit released a video of Esmin Green, a 49-year-old patient, dying on the floor of a waiting room in King County Hospital after waiting to be seen by at the psychiatric emergency department for more than 24 hours. Shortly after

7296-405: The WTC site. One major point of contention at the time was that the cleanup of the WTC site was resulting in the destruction of the majority of the buildings' steel components. Indeed, when NIST published its final report, it noted "the scarcity of physical evidence" that it had had at its disposal to investigate the collapses. Only a fraction of a percent of the buildings remained for analysis after

7424-703: The World Trade Center Health Program, which replaced earlier programs (Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and the WTC Environmental Health Center program). The WTC Health Program covers responders who worked or volunteered in the rescue, recovery, or clean up efforts at the World Trade Center site in New York , the Pentagon, or the plane crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It also provides benefits for people who lived, worked, went to school, attended daycare, or adult daycare in

7552-548: The World Trade Center attack. Under the grant, HHC will provide medical examinations, diagnostic testing, referral and treatment for residents, students, and others in the community that were directly affected by the dust and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. Other recent grants to HHC include to expand access to neonatal care and to improve health literacy among low literacy patients. In recent years, HHC has received recognition for its advanced clinical information system which includes

7680-537: The World Trade Center terrorist attacks. Under the grant, HHC provided medical examinations, diagnostic testing, referral and treatment for residents, students, and others in the community that were directly affected by the dust and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001. Following the passage of the James Zadroga Act, the WTC EHC became part of the WTC Health Program. In 2002

7808-612: The Zadroga Act or certified by the WTC Program Administrator, who is the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. These include respiratory and digestive disorders and mental health conditions, as well as secondary conditions related to disease progression or complication from treatment of the primary covered health condition. Additionally, certain musculoskeletal disorders are covered for Fire Department of New York members and other responders injured in

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7936-451: The afternoon on the 11th and 12th floors of 7 World Trade Center, the flames visible on the east side of the building. During the afternoon, fire was also seen on floors 6–10, 13–14, 19–22, and 29–30. In particular, the fires on floors 7 through 9 and 11 through 13 continued to burn out of control during the afternoon. At approximately 2:00 pm, firefighters noticed a bulge in the southwest corner of 7 World Trade Center between

8064-431: The afternoon. Structural damage occurred to the southwest corner between Floors 7 and 17 and on the south facade between Floor 44 and the roof; other possible structural damage includes a large vertical gash near the center of the south facade between Floors 24 and 41. The building was equipped with a sprinkler system , but had many single-point vulnerabilities for failure: the sprinkler system required manual initiation of

8192-432: The amount of sway felt by building occupants. The towers also had a "hat truss" or "outrigger truss" between the 107th and 110th floors, consisting of six trusses along the long axis of core and four along the short axis. This system allowed optimized load redistribution of floor diaphragms between the perimeter and core, with improved performance between the different materials of flexible steel and rigid concrete allowing

8320-426: The area due to concerns for the safety of personnel. At 5:20:33 pm EDT on September 11, 2001, 7 World Trade Center started to collapse, with the crumble of the east mechanical penthouse, while at 5:21:10 pm EDT the entire building collapsed completely. There were no casualties associated with the collapse. When 7 World Trade Center collapsed, debris caused substantial damage and contamination to

8448-402: The area of Manhattan south of Houston Street, as well as any block of Brooklyn either wholly or partially contained within a 1.5-mile radius of the former World Trade Center site. The program recognized the musicians, including Marya Columbia, who played for rescuers in lower Manhattan as eligible as well. The WTC Health Program only provides tests and treatment for conditions specified by law in

8576-406: The building spaced 3 ft 4 in (1.02 m) on center. While the towers were square, the interior cores were rectangular and supported by 47 columns that ran the full height of each tower. All the elevators and stairwells were in the core, leaving a large column-free space between it and the perimeter that was bridged by prefabricated floor trusses. As the core was rectangular, this created

8704-400: The building's damage, was deconstructed because of water, mold, and other severe damage caused by the neighboring towers' collapse. In addition to this, many works of art were destroyed in the collapse . In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, numerous structural engineers and experts spoke to the media, describing what they thought caused the towers to collapse. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl ,

8832-447: The central core being intact and only partially blocked, and 18 civilians managed to escape from the point of aircraft impact and the floors above that. The exact numbers of who perished and where in some cases is not precisely known; however the National Institute of Standards and Technology report indicated that a total of 1,402 civilians perished at or above the impact point in the North Tower with hundreds estimated to have been killed at

8960-596: The city's public hospitals. The most well known hospital in the HHC system is Bellevue Hospital – the oldest public hospital in the United States. Bellevue is the designated hospital for treatment of the President of the United States and other world leaders if they become ill or injured while in New York City. The organization underwent a rebranding initiative in November 2015, shortening its name from 40 characters to 19 characters, as "NYC Health + Hospitals". As of 2021 , HHC

9088-459: The city: HHC operates 5 long-term care centers: The HHC network also includes 30 community-based clinics throughout the city under the Gotham Health name. HHC has won a number of awards and grants in recent years for its quality of care and innovative community-based programs. In 2006, a study by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ranked quality of care at HHC among

9216-535: The cleanup was completed: some 236 individual pieces of steel, although 95% of structural beams and plates and 50% of the reinforcement bars were recovered. New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation NYC Health + Hospitals , officially the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation ( HHC ), operates the public hospitals and clinics in New York City as a public benefit corporation . HHC

9344-590: The collapse of 7 World Trade Center, though it was successfully restored at a cost of US$ 1.4 billion. Many of the surrounding buildings were also either damaged or destroyed as the towers fell. 5 World Trade Center endured a large fire and a partial collapse of its steel structure and was torn down. Other buildings destroyed include 3 World Trade Center , 4 World Trade Center , 6 World Trade Center , and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church . The World Financial Center buildings, 90 West Street , and 130 Cedar Street suffered fires. The Deutsche Bank Building ,

9472-419: The collapse of Building 7. Some connections broke as the bolts snapped, leaving many panels randomly scattered. The first fragments of the outer walls of the collapsed North Tower struck the ground 11 seconds after the collapse started, and parts of the South Tower after 9 seconds. The lower portions of both buildings' cores (60 stories of WTC 1 and 40 stories of WTC 2) remained standing for up to 25 seconds after

9600-769: The collapses, Leslie E. Robertson said: "To the best of our knowledge, little was known about the effects of a fire from such an aircraft, and no designs were prepared for that circumstance. Indeed, at that time, no fireproofing systems were available to control the effects of such fires." During the September 11 attacks , four teams of al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four different jetliners. Two of these jetliners, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 , both Boeing 767s , were hijacked after takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport . In its final moments, American Airlines Flight 11 flew south over Manhattan and crashed at roughly 440 mph (710 km/h) into

9728-467: The collapses, the towers' owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , was in the process of adding fireproofing, but had completed only 18 floors in WTC 1, including all the floors affected by the aircraft impact and fires, and 13 floors in WTC 2, although none were directly affected by the aircraft impact. NIST concluded that the aircraft impact sheared off a significant portion of

9856-584: The collapses, there was some confusion about who had the authority to carry out an official investigation. While there are clear procedures for the investigation of aircraft accidents, no agency had been appointed in advance to investigate building collapses. A team was quickly assembled by the Structural Engineers Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers , led by W. Gene Corley , Senior Vice President of CTLGroup . It also involved

9984-570: The coverage list in 2012–2014. There are several WTC Health Program clinic locations in the New York City area. Clinics for 9/11 responders include: Survivors can receive testing and treatment through the NYC Health + Hospitals WTC Environmental Health Center at three locations: FDNY members can receive monitoring and treatment at: More information can be found on the FDNY WTC Health Program Website Eligible responders and survivors who are no longer living in

10112-458: The damaged, burning section of the North Tower. Flight 175's much higher impact speed inflicted structural damage even more catastrophic than Flight 11's, which was compounded by the plane slicing through the southeastern corner rather than the center, unbalancing the South Tower on one side. The uneven weight distribution was significantly aggravated by Flight 175 crashing much lower down, between Floors 77 and 85, resulting in more pressure on both

10240-407: The design studies and the event that caused the towers to collapse was the velocity of the impact, which greatly increased the absorbed energy, and was never considered during the construction process. During its investigation into the collapse, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) obtained a three-page white paper that stated the buildings would survive an aircraft-impact of

10368-429: The destroyed high-rises was dispersed throughout the city and gave rise to numerous long-term health effects that continue to plague many who were in the towers' vicinity, with at least three additional deaths reported. The 110-story towers are the tallest freestanding structures ever to be destroyed , and the death toll from the attack on the North Tower represents the deadliest terrorist act in world history. In 2005,

10496-443: The disaster. The United States Congress passed appropriations to provide limited health screening and treatment services to World Trade Center responders. The MMTP has received approximately $ 475 million from the federal government. Over 57,000 people met the program's initial eligibility requirements. On July 1, 2011, MMTP became a part of the World Trade Center Health Program. The World Trade Center Environmental Health Center (EHC)

10624-504: The electrical fire pumps, rather than being a fully automatic system; the floor-level controls had a single connection to the sprinkler water riser; and the sprinkler system required some power for the fire pump to deliver water. Also, water pressure was low, with little or no water to feed sprinklers. Some firefighters entered 7 World Trade Center to search the building. They attempted to extinguish small pockets of fire, but low water pressure hindered their efforts. Fires burned into

10752-431: The fireproofing, contributing to the buildings' collapse. In WTC 1 , the impact stripped the insulation off most core columns (43 of 47) on more than one floor, as well as floor trusses over a space of 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m ). In WTC 2 the impact knocked off insulation from 39 of the 47 columns on multiple floors, and also from floor trusses spanning an area of 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m ). After

10880-492: The first intact floor beneath impact. The vertical capacity of the connections supporting an intact floor below the level of collapse was adequate to carry the load of 11   additional floors if the load were applied gradually, but of only 6   additional floors if the load were applied suddenly ‍ — as was the case. Since the number of floors above the approximate floor of collapse initiation exceeded six in each WTC tower (12 floors in WTC 1 and 29 floors in WTC 2),

11008-478: The first year of the attack. In 2011 a major research study showed significant long term medical and psychological effects among first responders to the World Trade Center site. These effects include elevated levels of asthma , sinusitis , Gastroesophageal reflux disease and posttraumatic stress disorder . Residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown have also reported negative health effects. Several deaths have been linked to

11136-429: The floor plate of the lower section, mediated by a growing layer of rubble consisting mainly of concrete from the floor slabs. The energy from each impact was "reintroduced into the structure in [the] subsequent impact, ... concentrate[d] in the load-bearing elements directly affected by the impact." This overloaded the floor connections of the story immediately beneath the advancing destruction, causing them to detach from

11264-409: The floors below the level of collapse initiation were unable to resist the suddenly applied gravitational load from the upper floors of the buildings. From there collapse proceeded through two phases. During the crush-down phase, the upper block destroyed the structure below in a progressive series of floor failures roughly one story at a time. Each failure began with the impact of the upper block on

11392-414: The full scope of those studies no longer exists. Nevertheless, since fire had never before caused a skyscraper to collapse and aircraft impacts had been considered in their design, their destruction initially came as a surprise to some in the engineering community. The structural engineers working on the World Trade Center considered the possibility that aircraft could crash into the building. In July 1945,

11520-399: The ground floor lobby, more than 90 floors below the impact. Flight 175's impact into the South Tower's south face was offset to the east rather than being centralized like Flight 11, leaving the sides of the tower as the only real direction in which the fuel could travel, producing a visibly larger fireball on the outside. Almost all the deaths in the Twin Towers occurred in the zones above

11648-420: The health effects resulting from the terrorist attacks. On August 14, 2006, then- Governor of New York George Pataki signed legislation to expand death benefits to Ground Zero workers who die from cancer or respiratory diseases, presumably from exposures to hazardous materials and toxins during recovery efforts. At the bill-signing ceremony, held at the World Trade Center site, Pataki mentioned James Zadroga ,

11776-480: The hellish conditions inside. While some windows were broken in the South Tower, it was relatively uncommon by comparison. Victims were only occasionally spotted inside open windows, and no crowds were present outside of the tower, as in the Impending Death photograph of the North Tower burning. Numerous people fell or jumped to their deaths from the burning towers. Three were spotted from an east-facing window on

11904-465: The highest in New York City in the areas of heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. HHC reported that of the 50 hospitals in New York City that voluntarily submitted quality data to CMS, HHC hospitals held seven of the top nine places – and all ranked in the top 17 – when judged by 10 specific measures of healthcare quality for the treatment of patients with life-threatening heart and pulmonary conditions, and that Brooklyn's Coney Island Hospital achieved

12032-446: The impact of a Boeing 707 , which might be lost in the fog and flying at relatively low speeds while seeking to land at either JFK or Newark Airports . In an interview with the BBC two months after the towers collapsed, Robertson said: "with the 707, the fuel load was not considered in the design. I don't know how it could have been considered." He also said that the main difference between

12160-424: The impact traveled down at least one elevator shaft and exploded on the 78th floor of the North Tower, as well as in the main lobby. The towers' light construction and hollowness allowed the jet fuel to penetrate far inside them, igniting many large fires simultaneously over a wide area of the impacted floors. The fuel burned for at most a few minutes, but the buildings' contents burned over the next hour or hour and

12288-528: The initial structural failure occurred, progressive collapse of the entire structure was inevitable. César Pelli , who designed the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the World Financial Center in New York, remarked, "no building is prepared for this kind of stress." On September 13, 2001, Zdeněk P. Bažant , professor of civil engineering and materials science at Northwestern University , circulated

12416-422: The local failure of the vertical load-bearing components of the floors that were hit by the planes and progressed to encompass the whole of the structure. Structural components were severed, releasing gravitational energy that transferred loads downwards by way of serially propagating impact forces. Excepting the top floors of the building, which would not have released sufficient gravitational energy to bring about

12544-471: The mid-1970s, the use of asbestos for fireproofing was widespread in the construction industry. But in April 1970, the New York City Department of Air Resources ordered contractors building the World Trade Center to stop the spraying of asbestos as an insulating material and vermiculite plaster was used instead. After the 1993 bombing , inspections found fireproofing to be deficient. Before

12672-402: The moment frames to transfer sway into compression on the core, which also mostly supported the transmission tower. These trusses were installed in each building to support future transmission towers, but only the north tower was ultimately fitted with one. Though fire studies and even an analysis of the impacts of low-speed jet aircraft impacts had been undertaken before the towers' completion,

12800-418: The moment of impact. In the South Tower, 614 civilians perished at the impacted floors and the floors above that. Fewer than 200 of the civilian fatalities occurred in the floors below the impact points but all 147 civilian passengers and crew on the two aircraft as well as all 10 terrorists perished, along with at least 18 people on the ground and in adjacent structures. All told, emergency personnel killed as

12928-516: The northern facade of the North Tower (WTC 1) at 8:46 a.m., hitting the 93rd through 99th floors. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 flew northeast, over New York Harbor , and crashed into the southern facade of the South Tower (WTC 2) at 9:03 a.m., striking between the 77th through 85th floors at 540 mph (870 km/h). The impacts failed the exterior columns in

13056-423: The perimeter and core columns. The perimeter columns peeled away and the cores were left without lateral support. This continued until the upper block reached the ground and the crush-up phase began. Here, it was the columns that buckled one story at a time, now starting from the bottom. As each story failed, the remaining block fell through the height of the story, onto the next one, which it also crushed, until

13184-417: The perimeter columns. Meanwhile, web diagonals of the 60 foot trusses supporting the long-span tenant floor area began to buckle, causing the floors to sag by more than 2 feet. This pulled in the perimeter walls, which buckled. The floors above the impact zone now fell freely onto the undamaged structure below. The North Tower lasted around 46 minutes longer than its twin, having been struck 17 minutes before

13312-415: The perimeter wall columns and core columns than in the North Tower and causing them to snap more quickly. The difference in the impacts was such that a senior FDNY chief reportedly expressed strong disbelief that the North Tower would collapse even after witnessing the collapse of the South Tower, because the North had not been struck at a corner. When the columns failed, the entire building above fell onto

13440-416: The planes carrying similar amounts of combustibles. This is because a substantial portion of the jet fuel was channelled into the North Tower instead of being sprayed out into the open. Flight 11 crashed almost midway into the North Tower's central core, causing the ignited jet fuel to shoot through elevator shafts down as far as the basement and concourse levels, with a flash fire exploding from elevators in

13568-411: The points of aircraft impact. As the North Tower had been struck almost directly midway into the structure, the three main stairways (A, B, and C) in the tower core were all damaged or blocked by debris preventing escape to lower floors. In the South Tower, the impact was east of center to the central section of the tower and close to the southeast corner, resulting in stairway A in the northwest portion of

13696-425: The principal teaching hospital for its affiliated New York University School of Medicine. HHC's other hospitals were founded in the late 19th century and early-to-mid-20th century. In 1965, Medicare and Medicaid were created and quickly accounted for 86 percent of the income received by the municipal hospital system. Patients with private insurance opted to use private hospitals and Medicaid raised its eligibility. As

13824-510: The professional care and treatment they deserve. It is our hope and expectation that the express willingness of the defendants to work with DOJ and Plaintiff's counsel will, in fact, result in the change that KCHC so desperately needs. Bloomberg has stressed the need for, and improvements in, accountability and transparency at HHC, stating in March 2009, “New York City's public hospitals are also national leaders in reporting on patient safety, including

13952-422: The rate of infections acquired during hospital stays – a very troubling problem nationwide. Our taxpayers deserve to know that. That's what accountability is about – and we need to make accountability the norm throughout the country, in big cities and small towns." In March 2009, HHC announced spending reductions of $ 105 million and said that it would eliminate 400 jobs because of Medicaid cuts, rising expenses and

14080-464: The regions hit by the fuselage, engines, and fuel-filled wing section (34 columns in the North Tower and 26 in the South Tower). Damage also extended to the tips of the wings and tailfin. In addition, several core columns were either severed or heavily damaged, especially in the path of the fuselage. About one third of the fuel was consumed in the initial impact and resulting fireball. Some fuel from

14208-422: The release of the video, which was highly publicized, HHC officials agreed in court to implement emergency reforms. Alan Aviles, HHC president, released a statement that he was shocked and distressed by the situation and promised a thorough investigation. Six HHC employees were fired and reforms were implemented. The particular conditions at Kings County Hospital appear to be largely limited to that unit. As part of

14336-475: The response to the terrorist attacks. As of June 2019, the 10 most common conditions certified by the World Trade Center Health Program were chronic rhinosinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), asthma, sleep apnea, cancer, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, and anxiety disorders. The most common cancers were skin cancer and prostate cancer. The Zadroga Act established

14464-407: The roof finally hit the ground. The process accelerated throughout, and by the end each story was being crushed in less than a tenth of a second. As the fires continued to burn, occupants trapped in the upper floors of the South Tower provided information about conditions to 9-1-1 dispatchers. At 9:37 a.m., an occupant on the 105th floor of the South Tower reported that floors beneath him "in

14592-405: The short-span area. The trusses connected to the perimeter at alternate columns, and were therefore on 6.8 ft (2.1 m) centers. The top chords of the trusses were bolted to seats welded to the spandrels on the perimeter side and a channel welded to interior box columns on the core side. The floors were connected to the perimeter spandrel plates with viscoelastic dampers, which helped reduce

14720-449: The south side of the 79th floor, while the 100–200 people who fell or jumped from the four faces of the North Tower had no other means of escape from the insufferable heat, smoke and fire consuming its top 18 stories. Such differences imply that conditions did not deteriorate as rapidly, or become as inhospitable, in the South Tower as in the North. The damage to the North Tower by Flight 11's centered impact severed all escape routes above

14848-437: The start of the initial collapse before they too collapsed. In both towers, the section of the building that had been damaged by the airplanes failed. Aside from the structural damage, the impacts had removed fireproofing from a large part of the impact zone allowing the structural steel to heat rapidly. As a result, the core columns were weakened and began to shorten due to creep. The hat truss resisted this by shifting loads to

14976-407: The structures occurred. Bažant later published an expanded version of this analysis. Other analyses were conducted by MIT civil engineers Oral Buyukozturk and Franz-Josef Ulm , who also described a collapse mechanism on September 21, 2001. They later contributed to an MIT collection of papers on the WTC collapses edited by Eduardo Kausel called The Towers Lost and Beyond . Immediately following

15104-499: The sudden rush of air compressed under the descending upper levels. During each collapse, large portions of the perimeter columns and the cores were left without any lateral support, causing them to fall laterally towards the outside, pushed by the increasing pile of rubble. Consequently, the walls peeled off and separated from the buildings by a large distance – about 500 ft (150 m) in some cases – hitting neighboring buildings and starting fires that would later lead to

15232-451: The technical ability to perform a rigorous simulation of aircraft impact and ensuing fires is a recent development, and that the technical capability for such analysis would have been quite limited in the 1960s. In its final report on the collapses, the NIST stated that it could find no documentation examining the impact of a high-speed jet or of a large-scale fire fueled by aviation fuel. Until

15360-429: The time of the March 2009 announcement, Aviles said these cuts address a fraction of the problem and pointed to additional reductions in the future. In early April, Aviles circulated a letter to HHC's employees and its community advisory board stating that due to decisions by Governor Paterson the cuts would be significantly deeper than those reported in March. The effect of the initial and additional funding cutbacks on

15488-743: The towers had a high strength-to-weight ratio requiring 40 percent less steel than more traditional steel-framed skyscrapers. In addition, atop WTC 1 stood a 362 ft (110 m) telecommunications antenna erected in 1978, bringing that tower's total height to 1,730 ft (530 m), though as a nonstructural addition, the antenna was not officially counted. The towers were designed as framed tube structures, which provided tenants with open floor plans uninterrupted by columns or walls. The buildings were square and 207 ft (63 m) on each side but had chamfered 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) corners, making each building's exterior roughly 210 ft (64 m) wide. One World Trade Center (WTC 1),

15616-584: The toxic dust, and the victims' names have been included in the World Trade Center memorial. As of 2008, the New York State Department of Health had documented at least 204 deaths of rescue and recovery workers since September 11, 2001. Seventy-seven of these individuals died of illnesses, including 55 from lung and various other cancers. Kitty Gelberg, New York state Bureau of Occupational Health's chief epidemiologist said, "We're not saying they are all World Trade Center related; we're just saying this

15744-464: The upper section of the building began to move downward, a total progressive collapse was unavoidable. The cleanup of the World Trade Center site involved round-the-clock operations and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of the surrounding structures that had not been hit by the planes still sustained significant damage, requiring them to be torn down. Demolition of the surrounding damaged buildings continued even as new construction proceeded on

15872-566: The wake of the 2010 Congressional Elections , the bill's future looked increasingly doubtful towards the end of 2010. On December 16, 2010 comedian Jon Stewart dedicated an entire episode of The Daily Show to the political battle over the Zadroga Act. Stewart's coverage of the Republican filibuster raised media awareness of and public support for the bill, drawing praise from politicians and media outlets. On December 19, 2010, New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced

16000-549: Was also established after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to treat WTC-related illnesses. This program consisted of three locations in and around New York City. On September 30, 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) a grant to be administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), to provide health services to non-responder populations in New York City affected by

16128-643: Was awarded Hospitals and Health Networks' Most Wired Award four consecutive years for its use of information technology in safety, quality, customer service, business processes and workforce training. Conditions at the psychiatric unit of the Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, one of 11 HHC hospitals, remain the subject of a lawsuit and scrutiny by the press. In May 2007, the New York State Mental Hygiene Legal Service,

16256-574: Was created in 1969 by the New York State Legislature as a public benefit corporation. It is similar to a municipal agency, but has a board of directors . In 1736 HHC's oldest hospital, Bellevue Hospital , was founded as an infirmary for smallpox and other contagious diseases on the top floor of a public workhouse and jail. Bellevue Hospital was formally named in 1825. At the turn of the 20th century, Bellevue's medical college merged with University Medical College into what would later become

16384-519: Was the deadliest and costliest building collapse in history. The North Tower (WTC 1) was the first building to be hit when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into it at 8:46 a.m., causing it to collapse at 10:28 after burning for one hour and 42 minutes. At 9:03 a.m., the South Tower (WTC 2) was struck by United Airlines Flight 175 ; it collapsed at 9:59 a.m. after burning for 56 minutes. The towers' destruction caused major devastation throughout Lower Manhattan , and more than

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