Dennis Sirjuesingh

BY LAURA DOWRICH

Dennis Sirjuesingh, a New Yorker of Trinidadian parentage, has launched a non-profit Web site for people injured during the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The site, 911 Injured (www.911injured.org), is designed to be a forum where all victims of 9/11 can find support.

Sirjuesingh, 37, was one of the thousands injured that day when the terrorist-manned aircraft flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

The former sales manager said he was having breakfast in his office at Frost & Sullivan at the time of the attacks. After witnessing the attacks on the neighbouring towers, he packed his things and left the office. Some debris struck him as he left.

“Six weeks after the event, I woke one morning without feeling in my hands. It gradually came back, but with tingling up and down the arm. I went to a doctor who arranged for me to have an immediate MRI.

“It revealed three herniated discs in my cervical spine. These discs, which form the cushion between the vertebrae, were not slipped right out, but had moved enough to press on the nerve endings comprising the sac surrounding the spinal chord, which causes tremendous pain and reduced motion,” he said.

Sirjuesingh was referred to a spinal and pain management consultant at the South Texas Spinal Centre in San Antonio, where he was posted for three months.

“He injected steroids two times directly into the discs as well as injecting me over 15 times in each session with lidocaine straight into my muscles, in the hope of providing me with some relief.

“This treatment was supposed to last up to five sessions, but again it was prematurely terminated as it was not producing any relief. It was suggested that I see a surgeon.

“I had heated blankets to lie on, and an electro muscle stimulation unit to wear each night for two hours (this cost US$2,000 and was not covered by medical insurance). Nothing was helping. The pain was not abating, not even temporarily,” he said.

His employers allowed him to work from home, but the injuries affected his work. Sirjuesingh said he was laid off on May 6, 2002.

“I was essentially stranded in San Antonio with no job, no income and no medical coverage,” he said.

After returning to New York, Sirjuesingh applied to the New York State Workers Compensation Board.

The Board is covering his medical expenses for tests and medications, which Sirjuesingh said are running at about US$1,200 a month. But this coverage may be in jeopardy since the Board wants to withdraw on the grounds that Sirjuesingh gave up his job voluntarily, although he insists he was laid off.

In the meantime, Sirjuesingh doesn’t have an income.

“The workers compensation Board can pay me US$400 a week since the time I lost my job in May of 2002, but as the case has not been settled, I have not seen a penny, so I am living on the edge and going into debt,” he said via e-mail.

On Sirjuesingh’s Web site, he has a link to Fix The Fund, an organisation that exclusively deals with the rules and administration of the Victims Compensation Fund.

The fund is a government programme set up to compensate the surviving victims and the families of deceased victims of the September 11 attacks for their losses.

Sirjuesingh is campaigning to get compensation from that fund. His site is filled with information about the fund and challenges to the eligibility requirements.

He has been denied access to the fund because, he said, he was told he didn’t go to the hospital within three days, therefore, his injuries were not that serious.

A NY1.com news report on Sirjuesingh’s plight, said the guidelines of the fund state all those injured on 9/11 are only eligible for compensation if they received medical treatment within 72 hours of when they were injured.

But Sirjuesingh said his doctors claim his injuries wouldn’t have been realised within that time.