Healthcare organizations such as Penn Medicine provide other types of specialized care to responders and survivors through the National Provider Network.
The list of safety programs related to the World Trade Center includes serious injuries such as burns and head trauma, respiratory disorders such as asthma and shortness of breath, mental illness, and cancer.
Research shows that those who first respond to the attack on the sites in lower Manhattan, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, are at a higher risk of developing cancer due to exposure to chemicals and toxins forever.
But cervical cancer was left off the list of things covered, until now. Udasin said it was probably because it took so long to diagnose the cancer as a side effect, because there were fewer cases compared to other types of cancer.
“Just think about who most of the responders are — they’re firefighters, construction workers, police officers, and other communications workers,” he said. “There are women in those groups, but not many.”
For several years, Udasin has joined other researchers and health experts who have asked the government to add uterine cancer to the list so that respondents who have been diagnosed with the disease can benefit from free treatment.
“Although we were previously looking at all types of cancer, the quality of this story is that it is better to look at cancer as all cancers, even if a person’s cancer can have a certain risk,” said Udasin.
