Victim Compensation Fund

January is National Thyroid Awareness Month. If you were there as a responder or you worked, lived, or studied in Lower Manhattan on or after 9/11, you have a higher risk of developing many respiratory illnesses and 69 different types of cancer resulting from exposure to Ground Zero toxins, including thyroid cancer. Within days of 9/11, the […]

Today, January 2, marks the fourteenth anniversary of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, named in honor of hero NYPD Detective James Zadroga, a Barasch & McGarry client. The act established the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program and reactivated the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), providing free health care and compensation to responders and survivors who […]

This year on Thanksgiving, we have so much to be grateful for. We thank our first responders and all those who have served and protected our wonderful country. Especially on this holiday, we are honored to recognize the heroes. We are privileged to represent 9/11 responders and survivors, as well as families who have lost […]

November is Stomach Cancer Awareness Month. Anyone who worked, lived, or studied in Lower Manhattan on or after 9/11 has a higher risk of many serious respiratory illnesses and 69 different types of cancer, including stomach cancer. Barasch & McGarry represents more than 200 members of the 9/11 community who have been diagnosed with stomach cancer. […]

Michael O’Connell joined the FDNY on May 5, 2001, as a Probationary Firefighter assigned to Engine 273 / Ladder 129 in Flushing. Only four months later, he deployed to Lower Manhattan on the morning of September 11, immediately after the terrorist attack on World Trade Center. For several weeks, he never went home, rotating between […]

Today, October 19, 2024, would have been the 59th birthday of NYPD Detective Luis G. Alvarez, a 9/11 hero whose testimony persuaded Congress to establish permanent compensation benefits for 9/11 community members with cancer or respiratory illness and their families.  Detective Alvarez, who appeared before Congress with comedian and 9/11 advocate Jon Stewart, died only […]