{"id":833647,"date":"2026-09-02T02:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/833647\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T02:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:04:10","slug":"fdny-9-11-first-responders-still-battling-depression-25-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/833647\/","title":{"rendered":"FDNY 9\/11 first responders still battling depression 25 years on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of FDNY 9\/11 first responders<\/a> are still battling depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions 25 years after working at Ground Zero, according to a new report. <\/p>\n

About 14% of firefighters and EMS providers tracked by the World Trade Center Health Program continue to deal with depression, down from 36% who experienced it a year after the terror attack, according to a WTCHP report released Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Another 6% were still suffering from PTSD more than two decades on \u2014 down from 16% who reported fighting the condition in 2002.<\/p>\n

\"EmergencyMore than 14,000 9\/11 first responders from the FDNY are still submitting health data to track their collective progress. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

About 28% of FDNY WTCHP members have suffered from at least one mental health condition, officials said. <\/p>\n

Despite the number of first responders<\/a> still coping with mental health issues, the WTCHP noted that the improvements marked life-changing gains for those who had recovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members had post-traumatic stress disorder from having been down there so long, having seen body parts, having lost their own friends, their own coworkers,\u201d Dr. David J. Prezant told reporters on Tuesday. \u201cHere on the mental health side, we\u2019ve seen real improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here\u2019s a very important finding: eight out of 10 of our members now feel that their health, their overall health, has improved to either good, very good, or excellent,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s dramatic improvement in quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WTCHP has spent the last 25 years monitoring the health of first responders and issuing reports on their health progress after many were left fighting myriad ailments contracted on 9\/11 and the days after from injury, contact with hazardous materials or psychological trauma from the horror. <\/p>\n

More than 14,000 such first responders \u2014 12,158 firefighters and 1,920 EMS providers \u2014 are still providing health information for the WTCHP\u2019s records, about 84% of whom are still receiving WTCHP healthcare support.<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters resting at Ground Zero after responding to the devastating terror attack. Many were left afflicted by cancer. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Like mental heath, cancer remains and ongoing challenge for the heroes who raced to Ground Zero.<\/p>\n

Overall, 26% \u2014 or 4,257 FDNY WTCHP members \u2014 have been diagnosed with cancer, including 461 in just the last year alone, according to officials. <\/p>\n

But the report offered promising news for those stricken with the disease. <\/p>\n

An impressive 86% of cancer patients participating in the program are still alive five years after their diagnosis, according to the report.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s compared to New Yorkers with cancer who aren\u2019t being treated through the program, whose five-year survival rate was about 63%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a major improvement, and it\u2019s because the [WTCHP] believes in this holistic approach, monitoring early diagnosis, early treatment, and then the support of the fire department of labor and management, retirees, actives drive our sick cancer patients to the hospital to get their chemo,\u201d Prezant said.<\/p>\n

However, advancing age complicates these victories for first responders, with autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases rising or expected to rise, along with cognitive and hearing conditions, according to the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of FDNY 9\/11 first responders are still battling depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions 25 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[50090,8006,45908,99804,5723,97,259,260,5871,194],"class_list":["post-833647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-9-11","tag-diseases","tag-ems","tag-fdny","tag-firefighters","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-metro","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}