The World Trade Center "9/11" Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program - Lessons Learned

The events of 9/11 in New York City represented the best of fire fighters, police officers, construction workers and the general public. There were many heroes created in the minutes, days, weeks and months after the event. Many were working in official capacity, but many were average citizens who showed up to participate in bucket brigades. In the aftermath of the event, these heroes began to display signs of acute and chronic health conditions, suspected to have been related to the combination of ground glass, concrete, asbestos and human remains. Disregarding the potential of their own health being adversely effected these heroes continued the task of cleaning up after 9/11. The World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment program was set up within months of the attacks, specifically aimed at the monitoring and treatment of those responders. To date, there are almost 26,000 identified responders with additional individuals registering for the program monthly. So critical was the need to start the program that many traditional activities that would have taken place in the implementation of a computer program to manage the data were bypassed. While the situation was less than ideal, it was necessary in light of the needs of the responders. Seven years after 9/11 the WTC Data Coordination Center has successfully integrated and consolidated a myriad of paper and electronic data into a cohesive and comprehensive database that will allow the monitoring of the 9/11 responders throughout the remainder of their natural life. This presentation will discuss lessons learned during the set-up and execution of one of the most targeted and unique electronic medical records projects in history. The importance of the lessons learned will serve public health professionals in the future should a large attack such as a biologic agent or dirty bomb ever happen again.