$4.7 Million Raised for People who Fell Ill After 9/11

The 9/11 Neediest Medical Campaign was created to help those who became seriously ill after the September 11th World Trade Center attack. The fund has collected $300,000 since February for a grand total close to $4.7 million, reports fund officials.

The collected funds will be divided between Bellevue Hospital Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center for uninsured patients. A $100,000 grant will also go to St. Vincent’s World Trade Center Healing Services for the treatment of patients that are suffering from mental illness in conjunction with 9/11.

In February, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, the New York Community Trust, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Institute each contributed $1 million to a charity organized by the Neediest Cases Fund. The Altman Foundation also gave $250,000, the United Way of New York City $75,000, and Trinity Church $25,000.

Friday, the board of the Community trust voted to divide it’s grant of $1 million between Bellevue and Beyond Ground Zero, a community organization that works with Bellevue to help the people that were affected by the 9/11 disaster.

The Federal government, last year, provided $26 million to treat several, but not all, that became ill after the attack.
The money from the Neediest Medical Campaign will be made available to doctors who patients are not eligible to receive federal aiding.

The city’s World Trade Center Health Panel in February estimated that screening and treatment of ailments associated with ground zero costs the nation $393 million annually.