For two weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Rod Khattabi could often be seen at Ground Zero digging through the rubble. In the hours after the attacks, Khattabi was a first responder, working around the clock in dangerous conditions. The former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Special Agent, who is a director of the Safety and Justice Initiative at Grace Farms, remembers returning to his Norwalk home on the morning of Sept. 12.
On May 30, VOICES was honored to witness the dedication and opening of the 9/11 Memorial Glade.
On December 18, 2015, Congress approved the extension of the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which provides compensation and medical and mental health treatment to first responders and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One year later, there are still thousands of people who qualify for the benefits but have not yet signed up.
It is estimated that over 400,000 people were in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 and in the months afterward. Fifteen years later, many survivors are experiencing symptoms of the same life-threatening medical and psychological conditions as the responders who worked in the recovery effort.
When the World Trade Center site remained a search-and-rescue operation rather than a lost cause, I interviewed Craig Garber, a paramedic from Dedham, Mass., while reporting on the many volunteers who rushed to New York to help. As I remember it, Craig was tall, grimey-faced and wearing a yellow hard hat and no respirator. Craig was taking a break from four straight days on "the pile," as the rescuers called Ground Zero.