Responders, volunteers, friends & supporters:

3 weeks ago we witnessed the most significant progress in almost 8 years of neglect and denial. On March 31st we traveled to D.C. for the first of 2 hearings on our bill HR847 the James Zadroga Health & Compensation Act. Our presence was felt and this important piece of legislation now has momentum, more so then ever. This Wednesday on April 22nd we travel back to D.C. to show our nations leaders we will continue to be a presence until we achieve our common goal. And that is the passage of HR847. I am optimistic that this bill will pass through the house and I am confident Sen. Chuck Schumer will introduce this bill in the senate very shortly. Is this bill a ten on the 1-10 scale? Absolutely not, but this bill in my mind is an 8 with room for improvement, and this bill will provide health care and compensation for thousands of brave souls and innocent victims of 9/11 who suffer from it’s horrific aftermath. After dozens of meetings, conference calls & hundreds of letters and emails, I am confident we are close, and I am confident that the NY Delegation is fighting for us tooth & nail. As a 9/11 responder horribly injured at Ground Zero, I am proud of my service to this country. But I am even more proud to know I served a fraternity of heroes and great Americans like all of you. Our work is far from done, and we must stand united as one for us to finish our journey. A journey in which we have seen so many good men & woman loose their battle to 9/11 illnesses. But a journey where so many of you have become heroes twice for your resolve & testament to fight and survive. I salute all uniform & non-uniform workers, because your actions should be embraced and emulated by all who suffer from history and governmental neglect. God bless you all & god bless America.

John Feal
Founder & President of the FealGood Foundation
Injured 9/11 Responder
Kidney Donor
Above And Beyond Citizen Honors recipient from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

You can find your Rep here.

I thought telling “the story” from the perspective of a single murder might help some to understand.

The other day I was told something by Charlie that is infuriating. His family needs help. Charlie has been a huge advocate for the 9/11 First Responders.

As a member of the FealGood Foundation, Charlie was not allowed to receive any assistance from us because obviously it would have been seen as a conflict of interest. Sadly, and appropriately, the FealGood Foundation asked Charlie to resign.

John Feal released this statement:

Today the Fealgood Foundation lost board member Charlie Giles to his financial crisis. Charlie a 9/11 responder who was seriously affected by 9/11 was told he won his workmens comp case last week and recieved an award letter in the mail. His lump sum settlement would have been $40,000 plus payments every 2 weeks. The insurence company now has appealed it, and has left this hero with an eviction notice from his apartment which he moved into after loosing his house last year. Charlie was asked to resign from the board because none of my board members can recieve charity or any monies while sitting on the FGF board. But, like the 500 plus clients and thousands we advocate for, I implore all you great Americans to please help us help Charlie, his wife and 2 daughters. The madness, the sadness and the injustice continues for brave souls who risked their own health for America 7.5 years ago.

Any nation that does not honor it’s heroes will not long endure - Abraham Lincoln

Peace & Love
John Feal

Please help me to help Charlie. All monies collected will be given directly to him, and his family.

Thanks.

Jon Gold
3/10/2009

“I was just in the hospital for 8 days with respiratory & coronary problems. Then I come out to find out that the insurance carrier decided at the last minute to appeal my award from workmans comp that was just given to me after waiting 7 1/2 years.”

This was just told to me by 9/11 First Responder Charlie Giles. Charlie was an EMT that went into the North Tower to try and help people, and got caught when the building collapsed. He was pulled out of the rubble, and has had to deal with serious medical problems ever since.

Charlie is but one of thousands with similar problems. It has almost been 8 years since that horrid day, and for the most part, the 9/11 First Responders and the people of New York living around Ground Zero have been neglected. Neglected by those who were more than willing to use their images to sell two wars, take away our civil liberties, and practically destroy this country.

It is LONG past due that these individuals receive the help they so DESPERATELY need and deserve.

On February 4th, 2009, Reps. Maloney, Nadler, King, and McMahon reintroduced the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Since that time, it has been sitting in limbo, just waiting to be voted on.

To our elected officials sitting in the House of Representatives. You could spend more money in Iraq or Afghanistan. You could spend more money on health care. You could spend more money bailing out the financial industry. You could do a lot of things, and in the past, you have shown us that when you want to, you can pass legislation faster than a speeding bullet.

I am asking you now to put all of those other things aside, and spend some money on what’s right, and to do it NOW. Give them the help that they need. It is long past due.

Don’t forget to call your Congressmen and tell them you support the James Zadroga Bill. - Jon

Fealgood Foundation President and Founder John Feal makes an appeal on behalf of 9/11 First Responders and Recovery Workers sick after toxic exposures at Ground Zero. He is joined byTheresa Quibell, widow of Responder Greg Quibell, and Glen Klein, NYPD Detective (retired).

It’s important to remember who forgot them because it wasn’t us. - Jon

Source: nydailynews.com

Saturday, February 7th 2009, 4:00 AM

A new study by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center confirms the terrible truth about the long-term damage suffered by many rescue and recovery workers who responded to the World Trade Center.

The serious ill effects caused by breathing the toxic cloud that draped The Pile are, to this day, persistent and chronic among thousands of brave men and women who pitched in heroically after the terror attack.

Tests on more than 3,160 cops, construction workers and others found that more than 24% showed abnormal lung function between 2004 and 2007, down only slightly from the 28% who exhibited reduced lung function in similar examinations from 2002 to 2004.

The findings reinforce a second truth: Congress must find the will and the wherewithal to provide health care, monitoring and compensation to all those who remain sickened by exposure to WTC dust.

As it happened, New York Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerry Nadler, Pete King and Michael McMahon last week reintroduced legislation to do just that. The same bill died without action last fall, despite the welcome support of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The measure would provide $10.9 billion over 10 years to address a health crisis that extends into every state and nearly every congressional district because so many Americans rushed to New York to give aid.

The bill would provide medical care for lung, gastrointestinal and other diseases caused by WTC exposure; track the health of patients over time, and, importantly, reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund as a necessary alternative to litigation.

For more than seven years, Congress and the departed Bush administration refused to uphold America’s obligation to the 9/11 brigade. Among the stumbling blocks is the wrongheaded notion that city taxpayers must shoulder a share of the expense.

Maloney and her colleagues have attempted to sell the legislation by including a provision that would require the city to foot a whopping $500 million of the costs. Mayor Bloomberg has rightly balked.

City Hall is already paying for a set of 9/11 health programs. And, lest anyone miss the point, New York’s budget is so busted that the mayor has proposed raising taxes amid serious talk of laying off thousands of public workers.

Washington must accept its responsibility. The U.S. was attacked on 9/11; New York City just happened to be the primary target. The ill and injured went to the service of their country, and their country owes them.

We have been blessed that America has been spared a second major attack. But there is no doubt terrorists are out there plotting. Should, God forbid, they succeed, would-be responders should not have to worry about being abandoned by the government. Right now, that’s the horrible lesson they can draw.

Reps. Maloney, Nadler, King, and McMahon will likely be reintroducing the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act tomorrow afternoon. The below is a letter that was circulated by Rep. Maloney in the hopes of getting other members of the House to co-sponsor this bill.

Please, make the time to call your representative, and tell them that you support this bill. Thank you.

You can find your Representative here.

President Obama said that he backs this bill. He should be on the phone tonight calling all of the Representatives to get this passed.

February 3, 2009
Remember the Heroes of 9/11
Be an original cosponsor of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act
**Deadline at noon tomorrow**

Dear Colleague:

As we begin the 111th Congress, we invite you to become an original cosponsor of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This legislation would provide medical care and compensation for those who are sick with World Trade Center illnesses, including first responders who came to New York from every state and nearly all Congressional districts in the nation.

The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act would:

• Establish a federal health and compensation program for 9/11 responders and community members,
  
• Provide ongoing medical care for 9/11 health conditions to approximately 15,000 additional WTC responders and 15,000 additional WTC community members, for a total of 55,000 responders and 17,500 community members.
  
• Require a matching contribution from the City of New York for the health program,
  
• Reopen the Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) to provide compensation for those sickened by 9/11 exposure and to address the over 10,000 pending lawsuits brought by sick 9/11 responders, and
  
• Limit the liability in litigation for New York City and the contractors to the amounts available under the Captive Insurance Fund and their existing liability limits and insurance.
  

With a new Congress and a new administration, we must not forget the heroes of 9/11. To become an original cosponsor of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in the 111th Congress, please contact Anna Cielinski (Maloney) at 5-7944, Jillian Youngblood (Nadler) at 5-5635, Alexandra Valenti (P. King) at 5-7896, or Kathryn DiBitetto (McMahon) at 5-3371. The deadline is tomorrow, February 4, at noon.

Sincerely,

CAROLYN B. MALONEY
Member of Congress

JERROLD NADLER
Member of Congress

PETER T. KING
Member of Congress

MICHAEL E. McMAHON
Member of Congress

Anna Cielinski
Legislative Assistant
Office of Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-14)
2332 Rayburn House Office Building
202-225-7944 (phone)
202-225-7944 (fax)
anna.cielinski@mail.house.gov

Congratulations to John who got the key to the city of Buchannon. Also, if you haven’t donated, time’s a runnin’ out. - Jon

Source: wvde.state.wv.us

Posted: October 21, 2008

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – John Feal, founding president of the FealGood Foundation and a demolition expert who worked at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, will bring his message to Upshur County students and residents on Friday, Oct. 24. Feal and up to seven other first responders will meet with students at Buchannon Upshur High School beginning at 8:30 a.m. The group will meet with the community later in the day.

Feal, like 70 percent of 9/11 workers, suffers from post-9/11 illnesses. One of his feet had to be amputated after being crushed by an eight-ton steel beam. He also suffers from a respiratory syndrome called World Trade Center Cough and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Feal agreed to visit West Virginia after some Buckhannon-Upshur High School students contacted him via e-mail after watching a documentary in health educator Mateal Poling’s class. The documentary, Save the Brave, chronicles the daily struggles of 9/11 Ground Zero workers in the seven years since the attacks. Greg Quibell, one of the men featured, died of his injuries the day before the film’s premiere in New York.

“You have no idea how excited they were when Feal replied — me too,” Poling said. “It is hard to imagine that these kids were only first and second graders on 9/11, but thanks to Feal’s efforts, our students are starting to have a better understanding of the profound effects of that day.”

Feal said he is “humbled and honored to meet such amazing Americans.”

“They are a reflection of the teacher who has taught them well,” Feal said. “Your resolve and testament is what makes great future leaders of this country. We look forward to coming to the great state of West Virginia to share our stories and tell of the thousands that need our help.”

The FealGood Foundation’s primary mission, according to its Web site “is to spread awareness and educate the public about the catastrophic health effects on 9/11 first responders, as well as to provide assistance to relieve these great heroes of the financial burdens placed on them over the last five years.” The foundation also works to create a network of advocacy on 9/11 healthcare issues.

For more information, contact Mateal Poling or Mikaela Poling at (304) 472-2155 or by e-mail at luikart2@gmail.com. The FealGood Foundation’s Web site is http://www.fealgoodfoundation.com.

Do you see this? Do you see it? Make sure you look at it REALLY hard. The FealGood Foundation went through the trouble of making a movie called “Save The Brave” for the purposes of influencing our elected officials in Washington D.C. so they pass a bill to make sure they get the help they need.

Instead, they cared more about bailing out the Wall Street “fat cats,” than helping our heroes at a time when they need us. Just as we needed them.

That is unforgivable. But what should we expect from a Congress that cares more about the corporations than the people?

Please give anything you can. $1, $5, $1,000,000.00 (I’m looking at you Rosie, and Charlie). Either do it through this fund-raiser, or do it by directly contacting the FealGood Foundation. Please just give something.

Thank you.

One of the responders in the film died not long ago. His name was Greg Quibell. This fund-raiser is dedicated to he and his family. Rest in peace Greg.

All proceeds minus the paypal % will be donated to the FealGood Foundation.