UFA Tells Council of Mental Health-Care Need Due to 9/11
By ARI PAUL
If there is one thing the Uniformed Firefighters Association wants to see more of, it's mental-health care for its members suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of 9/11.

JAMES SLEVIN: 'Funding urgently needed.'

As this newspaper went to press, union and city officials testified before the City Council's Health and Civil Service and Labor Committees on medical options for uniformed responders with 9/11 ailments. The UFA was set to tell the committees that continued attention — and funding — was needed for this issue.

"This problem is not going away," said UFA Vice President James Slevin in a phone interview last week. "That's one area where the funding is urgently needed."

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found last year that one in eight responders to 9/11 suffered from PTSD.

In addition to the funding for such care, Mr. Slevin said that he was pleased that the Fire Department was working to set up satellite counseling offices for retired FDNY members, specifically in Florida and Arizona.

"A national network is being set up for these members," he said. "We hope to have that up and running soon."

The most-likely funding source dried up Sept. 28 when Congress shelved the James Zadroga Act, reportedly due to objections by Mayor Bloomberg to a provision that would have required the city to pay 10 percent of the program's costs. Mr. Bloomberg had supported the bill until that provision was added.

Beyond the Zadroga Act, Mr. Slevin said that in the long-term the UFA wanted to look for further funding avenues to endow groups such as the Friends of the Firefighters, which provides counseling for firefighters suffering from mental and physical ailments.