SBUMC opens newest 9/11 clinic





	Dr. Benjamin Luft announces the opening of Stony Brook University Medical Center’s latest first responder clinic. Photo by Jennifer Choi (click for larger version)

December 10, 2009 | 12:26 PM
Stony Brook University Medical Center's Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program celebrated the opening of a new facility in Islandia last week.

Joined by elected officials, hospital staff and 9/11 first responders, program Medical Director Dr. Benjamin Luft led a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 3 to dedicate the state-of-the-art facility. Created by SBUMC shortly after 9/11, the WTC treatment program is the only one on Long Island devoted to caring for first responders who reported to Ground Zero, according to SBUMC officials. The federally funded program provides care for 5,000 first responders from across Long Island who continue to suffer from health issues related to their work beginning on 9/11.

"For me, this has been the most satisfying part of my medical career," Dr. Luft said. While 9/11 was "one of the bleakest days in our history," he said, "an army of common people who are anything but common" joined forces on the following day to help the nation rise from despair. Thanking state Sen. Brian Foley (D-Blue Point) and Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) for joining the celebration, the medical director said, "I think it's so important for all of us to realize the good that government can play."

As the program continues to grow — there are currently locations in Hicksville, Islandia and East Meadow — Dr. Luft said it's "very important and special" to have the support of elected officials.

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"This is a very necessary and important health facility," Foley said. "This is the least we can do to help the responders who sacrificed their health and are still suffering."

First responders at the ribbon-cutting ceremony agreed. Glen Klein, who retired in 2003 from the New York City Police Department Emergency Services Unit, said the treatment program has been extremely helpful as he continues to suffer from medical conditions including gastrointestinal diseases. "They've made it a little bit easier on our lives," said Klein, from Centereach. "Thank God for the center."

Nesconset resident John Feal said the Islandia health facility is "paving the way for other centers of excellence to be built." "Others should emulate what they're doing," added Feal, founder and president of the 9/11 first responder advocacy group FealGood Foundation. "In eight years filled with negativity, this is a bright spot."

Mike Valentin of Ronkonkoma, a retired NYPD detective, said the treatment program has saved him about $60,000 in medication costs. Valentin, who suffers from restricted airway disease and Hodgkin's lymphoma, said without the program "I think I would've lost my life. The quality of life I have now is because of this place. This is like a family to me. They really have compassion for first responders."

Kevin Coenen, from the FDNY, attended to show support. "I think it's fantastic," Coenen said of SBUMC's program.

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