Give Your Voice Meeting with OCME:

Review of Recovery Effort

Each Victim of the September 11th has been given a RM #. Reports of “recovery” could mean “remains” not necessarily a whole body. Beware of the Newspapers, they are not always accurate.

The RM number encompasses the "P" and "T" numbers obtained in the early weeks of the tragedy. This number is the official case number for Families. RM number can be obtained by calling the DNA Hotline at 212-447-7884.

Recovery of Human Remains and Bodies has increased in recent days with the excavation of the "Tully" Road at the site. The Tully road is a make shift road that was created to give rescue workers access to the "pit" of Ground Zero. Another bridge was constructed to give rescue workers access to the pit and allow the excavation of this vital location.

When a Victim is positively identified the next of kin is contacted immediately. After the next of kin has been contacted they should expect a questionnaire from their Funeral Home director. This questionnaire will ask if you questions such as “would like to be notified if more remains are found”. Give Your Voice will post more details of this questionnaire in the very near future.

Hot Line Statistics

The OCME announced that the DNA Hotline was successful but there are still a number of Families that did not call. These Families were contacted via Postal Mail, to inform them of the number. The OCME mailing, both international and US went our early this week. Family members as far as Australia have already contacted the OCME since the mailing.

There was a concern of how and when Families are contacted in the event of the identification of a Loved One. Give Your Voice Member Bill Doyle stressed that many of the surviving Families are Widows alone with their Children. A suggestion was made to contact the Family within a certain time of the day. Another suggestion was when Families contact the hot line to make an inquiry as to the most suitable time to notify them. ME’s office is willing to help in any way possible. Family members should call the hotline if this is a concern.

The Hotline opens at 9:00 AM and does accept collect calls. Feedback has been coming in from the family members with successful results.

OCME Website will be update with the names of the victims who do not have a sufficient amount of DNA sample (www.nyc.gov/dna). There are still names of Victims who now have sufficient DNA to make identification. This does not mean that these Families still have to provide additional DNA samples.

Update From Forensic Biology Lab

OCME has taken over the DNA processing of personal affects, which was previously handled by the State Police. New technology will be used to create DNA profiles for Human Remains that did not yield sufficient DNA. This technology cannot be used until an inspection of the OCME laboratory is made. The inspection is scheduled for April 16th – 19th. The inspection is made by Department of Health

All Human Remains are frozen and kept in a way that will not allow the DNA to deteriorate.

Family Member Requests

The Medical Examiner will ensure that the remains of loved ones will be handled according to the wishes of the family members.

Family members who may know in advance that they may be away for any reason can submit the name of another person to be notified on their behalf during their absence.

Personal Effects

The Medical Examiner’s office is working to extract DNA from personal effects of loved ones.