Dr. Michael Crane treats responders at the World Trade Center Health Program\u2019s Clinical Center at Mount Sinai Hospital.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a population he\u2019s been serving since before there was a formal program as the medical director for ConEdison when the towers fell.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were massive interchanges of pipelines and gas lines downtown. So many, many Coned workers went to work both on the site and then volunteered,\u201d Crane said. \u201cAfter their shift to help with the rescue and recovery. It was an extraordinary effort by very, very brave people.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 59,000 survivors and 95,000 responders are registered for care, making the World Trade Center Health Program one of the largest continuous disaster-exposed cohorts followed by clinical research in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking at [are] individuals who are living their lives and they\u2019re carrying a psychological and physical burden,\u201d Dr. Sandra Lowe of the WTC Health Program Clinical Center at Mount Sinai said. \u201cThere\u2019s a wealth of information that we have gotten from speaking to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
A study published in March found program responders are living longer than responders not enrolled in the program.<\/p>\n
But as they celebrate the highs, they continue to help patients manage their lows. One of the most widespread outcomes among responders is depression and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.<\/p>\n
\u201cPTSD is not something that is just related to psychological symptoms,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cWe know that people with chronic PTSD have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, for pulmonary disease, for diabetes, and for cognitive impairments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manny Foranoce is one of Lowe\u2019s patients. He was a volunteer responder.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting the night of 9\/11, myself and 11 other guys I worked with went in and we did Bucket Brigade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Like most others who spend time on the pile during search and rescue efforts, Foranoce soon began feeling the health impacts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had COPD, asthma, GERD, acid reflux,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to have a couple of heart surgeries. But probably the worst thing is [that] I have leukemia.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what he often overlooked was his mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like, no, I\u2019m fine. I don\u2019t need any mental health or anything like that,\u201d Foranoce said.<\/p>\n
His perspective changed when the hidden trauma of a tragic discovery during his time in the area suddenly resurfaced at the soft opening of the World Trade Center Museum.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden I kind of like just like buckled,\u201d Foranoce said. \u201cI actually had to sit down because I couldn\u2019t even feel my legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was triggered when he saw this firetruck \u2014 the very truck he and the brigade uncovered with the help of a rescue dog from an Ohio police team.<\/p>\n
\u201cDog sits down, and the officer goes, there\u2019s a body here. So me and my buddies start digging,\u201d Foranoce said. \u201cAll of a sudden we hit a fireman\u2019s boot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey eventually brought over an excavator, and they dug around that area it turns out,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere was a fire truck buried under. He was on top of the fire truck plus the eight-footed debris.\u201d<\/p>\n
After sharing the experience with his doctors, Forenoce realized PTSD was something to take seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no predictable trajectory for conditions like PTSD. So we know that some patients have symptoms early on,\u201d Lowe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people may not have symptoms until 10 years,\u201d she continued. \u201cLast week we saw five people who were coming in with PTSD that had never been certified with the program before.\u201d<\/p>\n
What clinicians and researchers are finding is that the connection between the body, the brain, emotions and the deadly cocktail of dust may have had even more impacts.<\/p>\n
As the community ages, the consequences continue to ripple out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe types of exposures that you have, be they air pollution or traumatic, can increase your risk for dementia,\u201d Sean Clouston of the WTC Health Program at Stony Brook University said.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what researchers at the Stony Brook University\u2019s World Trade Center Clinic found.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who were there for a long period of time never wore a mask,\u201d Clouston said. \u201cWe\u2019re always working in dusty conditions, they were at roughly 10 times the risk as versus someone who never really worked in the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a tenfold increase in something that basically shouldn\u2019t really happen that much,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Clouston said brain imaging shows build-up of amyloid plaque known to cause Alzheimer\u2019s around responders\u2019 eyes and nose, caused by prolonged exposure to microscopic toxins in the dust around the area.<\/p>\n
Researchers think the dust bypassed the protective blood-brain barrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dust actually gets [into] the brain itself. And then the immune system is trying to fight it off. But our immune systems hasn\u2019t evolved to fight off pieces of metal from a building, right? So we think that maybe the amyloid is coming around for that reason,\u201d Clouston said.<\/p>\n
Foranoce agreed to join the brain studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve already gone through the second round of it, and they\u2019re starting to see a cognitive decline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you heard that, what went through your head?\u201d NY1 asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, anybody hears that, it\u2019s gonna be bad, but for myself, I live alone,\u201d Foranoce said. \u201cSo what happens when I get that way where I can\u2019t… I can\u2019t bathe myself, I can cook for myself?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, you break a bone, the bone\u2019s gonna heal, there\u2019s a treatment for it. You lose your mind. There\u2019s not much you can do,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Lowe said they\u2019re trying to prepare their patients now \u2014 for whatever comes down the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to get it assessed,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are many causes for cognitive impairment, and some of them are treatable, and you don\u2019t want to miss an opportunity to treat something that will help reverse some of the cognitive impairment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The studies will continue, and Foranoce hopes it will help lead to better treatments for him \u2014 and for everyone who follows.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time, you weren\u2019t thinking about your health. All you were thinking about was, you know, we need to clear this pile up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the outcome from being there. Would I do it again? I\u2019d do it again,\u201d he continued. \u201cYeah, we would do it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The World Trade Center Health Program is funded through the James Zadroga Act until 2090. It\u2019s a partnership between doctors, researchers, responders and survivors that will continue to offer the world valuable information, with the potential to push healthcare forward for all.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Michael Crane treats responders at the World Trade Center Health Program\u2019s Clinical Center at Mount Sinai Hospital.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2952,25,54129,2953,9,24,55,54,12,56,27,200],"class_list":["post-343367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-app-health","tag-app-top-stories","tag-erin-billups-national-health-reporter","tag-health","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}