The emotional and physical scars for workers who helped clean up Manhattan?s ?Ground Zero? after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks haven't gone away. That?s why the Laborers Health and Safety Trust Fund and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are teaming up to address the medical problems.

Lifelines, the Laborers? health and safety magazine, reports the union and the agency extended crisis counseling for the Ground Zero cleanup workers for six months, until June 2004. The counseling, called ?Project Liberty,? is free.

And they may need it. Dr. Jim Melius of the Laborers? fund says 19 percent of a sample of workers who helped clean up the site still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Some 7,500 workers have been examined, and results tabulated for 1,100, Melius added. Workers toiled there for over six months.

?If you've lost energy or your sex drive, can?t sleep at night, have haunting images or just don?t feel like doing the things you used to enjoy, it may be connected to your experiences around 9/11,? Melius cautions. Another 40 percent of the tested workers have some of the post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, while 48 percent have ear, nose and throat problems and 30 percent suffer breathing difficulties, he said.

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.