BY Howard Koplowitz
Long Island Jewish Medical Center has been awarded a five-year, $3.85 million federal contract to partner with Queens College’s Queens World Trade Center Clinical Center of Excellence to increase access to medical and mental health services for Sept. 11 first responders in the borough.
The center, now based in Flushing, will be moving to a larger space in Rego Park to accommodate more people.
The funding was part of the recently passed James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which doles out $4.3 billion in federal funding to address health issues stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“The recent federal funding that the Queens Clinical Center for Excellence receives guarantees that we will be able to continue to provide high-quality medical care and medical services to WTC responders for the next five years, without interruption, as well as increased access to critical health care services,” said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, the center’s new director. “To further improve access to care, we plan to relocate the center from its present location in Flushing to a larger facility in Rego Park in the next few months.”
The center is one of five in the New York-New Jersey area that provides medical monitoring exams and diagnosis and treatment services for Sept. 11-related health conditions.
More than 5,500 first responders from Queens are enrolled in such programs.
Dr. Steven Markowitz, a co-director of the Flushing program, said the new partnership “will be a tremendous benefit to WTC responders in the borough of Queens because it opens up a large network of physician specialists, clinicians and mental health providers in Queens. Dr. Moline and her occupational medicine colleagues will also be an invaluable asset.”
Borough President Helen Marshall lauded the partnership.
“I am delighted that the outstanding and multiple resources of the LIJ Medical Center will now be a full partner with the Queens World Trade Center Clinical Center of Excellence at Queens College to expand health care services and programs for first responders who were affected by the terrorist attack on America,” she said. “Increased access to quality medical care and services for first responders in Queens, which has already more than 5,500 responders in WTC-related programs, will provide more space, personnel, specialists and an entire network of care to cover a multitude of medical conditions of individuals and their families.
“The high-quality care provided by the LIJ Medical Center and the North Shore-LIJ Health System makes them an ideal candidate for this Clinical Center of Excellence,” Marshall said.
The center’s patients will also have access to North Shore-LIJ’s Rosen Family Wellness Center, located on the North Shore University Hospital campus in Manhasset, L.I., and provides free, confidential behavioral health services to law enforcement and military personnel and their families.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
