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We begin tonight with more uncertainty for 9-11 first responders
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Fox News, Sharon Crowley is live in the newsroom with the very latest. Sharon. Yeah, that's right
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Natasha and Steve, Doge spending cuts to a program treating first responders and others
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with 9-11 related illnesses is still facing setbacks and staffing shortages. Now, despite funding being restored to it in February after considerable public backlash
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Three months after Doge cut 20% of the staff in a program under the CDC, the program run by the National Institute for Occupational Safety, or NIOSH, provides a vital service
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NIOSH health care workers determine who is eligible to receive 9-11 benefits
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Now, during the cuts, the program lost hundreds of employees, many of whom were supposed to be rehired
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But advocates say things are still a mess. Sick first responders, they say, are facing months-long delays getting appointments
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The rules are that you can't get treated until you're certified with a 9-11 illness
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But if you can't get an appointment to get your illness certified, that's essentially
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taking away your treatment. Oh and by the way you can get an award from the Victim Compensation Fund which is the other program that has been set up until you certified with an illness So it a catch
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So in addition to getting Doge funding cuts restored, advocates for the 9-11 community are lobbying lawmakers in Washington, D.C
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to increase the funding for those who are suffering from 9-11 illnesses by $3 billion
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They say people are still getting sick and still dying some two decades after the Twin Towers collapsed
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So in 2007, I wound up developing a very rare autoimmune disease called sarcoidosis
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And the World Trade Center Health program, it literally saves lives. It saved me
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I mean, I got the best care right off the bat. I had a team of doctors all over me
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They knew what this was. They knew how to treat it. But if it wasn't for the World Trade Center Health Program, I don't know if I would be in the same condition I am today
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So the World Trade Center Health Program, of course, is a federal program that provides 9-11 first responders and survivors free annual health exams and treatment for 9-11 related health conditions
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And currently, it's helping more than 130,000 people who live all over this country
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I'll send it back to you upstairs
