meanwhile the New York City Fire Department today released a new alarming statistic that more FDNY First Responders have died from 911 related illnesses than were killed on the day of the attack more than 370 have died since then many more are receiving or will need to receive Critical Care One retired Jersey City police officer who was at Ground Zero immediately after the attack is speaking out about a lapsed bill in New Jersey known as the Bill Ricci Act it provides disability retirement benefits to 911 survivors but the enrollment period has long expired and a new bill is needed to give others a chance at getting the benefits Val Velazquez-Stetz wrote an Op-Ed for the USA Today Network asking the state to do right by those affected and she joins me now Val thanks for joining us and also thank you for your service um you rightly pointed out in the piece that you wrote uh that decades later First Responders are still getting illnesses that New York has done quite a bit to prop up those those civilians and First Responders but that New Jersey is lagging what do you want lawmakers to know I want law makers to know and to read the original um Bill Ricci bill um that was put out in 2019 but they put a cut off date of 2021 which gave two years to 911 responders to fill out um paperwork stating that they were there at 911 at some point and if they get um any illnesses to reach back and um they might be entitled to a disability accidental Disability Pension so many people might have received that Mo I could tell you every state police trooper that I've spoken to and I've spoken to hundreds and I helped them enroll in the victims compensation and health program and a few have passed away um they never received that so these These are retirement disability protections that as as we just said you know folks are needing longer and longer because some of these illnesses aren't being diagnosed until even today um right and so what has that done for civilians for First Responders what does that meant for folks being able to get the health care that they need so so what happens is um you you get enrolled in the World Trade Center health program and then you are certified with certain conditions there's 69 cancers the number one is skin cancer basil swam melanoma and then there's respiratory issues um asthma sinusitis bronchitis COPD asthma and acid reflux is really bad um for myself included I've been hospitalized four times this year wow um with you know stuff stemming from acid reflux gird so and PTSD is throughout um on both sides police and fire so this disability pension would help them just a little bit and it would help their families mostly if they were to pass away from a 911 illness if they pass away from a 911 illness their families will not receive benefits they're dropped Val do you feel like yourself other First Responders have been forgotten we have totally been forgotten in New Jersey and and all around actually.

Val Velazquez-Stetz is a retired Jersey City police officer who responded to ground zero on 911 Val thank you so much thank you very much please let's get this passed we need it [Music]