The Freedom Tower

Newsday, the Long Island, New York newspaper says emergency responders and volunteers who are enduring lasting health effects from their work at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center gathered there Saturday for an event billed as the “First Annual WTC Responder Day.”

“It’s almost seven years. The responders are tired of hearing about press conferences. They’re tired of hearing about hearings, and they’re tired,” said Marvin Bethea, 48, a former paramedic originally from Huntington who was a first responder working in lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He said he recently suffered a stroke.

The event, organized by Mount Sinai Medical Center’s World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, drew about 100 people, not as many as some had hoped. It was meant to honor those first responders who face increasing medical expenses following their work on Ground Zero.