For 9/11 Ailments
EMS Officers Fight FDNY-Only Monitor

By ARI PAUL

The union representing Emergency Medical Service officers is battling its parent union over a piece of Federal legislation it believes would unfairly limit members injured on 9/11 in choosing how they receive medical care.

MARIANNE PIZZITOLA: Workers deserve choice.

Thomas Eppinger, the president of Local 3621 of District Council 37, and Uniformed FDNY EMS Retirees Association President Marianne Pizzitola said that the proposed James Zadroga Act, which would provide Federal money for medical monitoring and treatment, would force department members, including EMS employees and retirees, with 9/11-related ailments to be monitored by the Fire Department. Both DC 37 and the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees support the bill in its current form.

'Shouldn't Be Forced'

"The FDNY has a good program, just as Mt. Sinai and the consortiums, but our members should not be forced into an employer-based program because the FDNY, DC 37 and AFSCME International think it is best for our members to give their bodies to science," Ms. Pizzitola, who is also Local 3621's pension consultant, said in an e-mail. "Our members should have a right to refuse participation just like anyone else."

PATRICK J. BAHNKEN: In-house checks beneficial.

Mr. Eppinger, Ms. Pizzitola and one of the local's retired members met with DC 37 and AFSCME officials at DC 37's lower Manhattan headquarters Oct. 30 to voice their opposition to this aspect of the bill.

"Essentially, what it boils down to is that they don't care," said Roger Moore, a retired EMS Lieutenant whose 9/11 injuries left him unable to walk. "If I want medical service, I have to go back to the Fire Department."

Mr. Moore, who lives in New Hampshire, said that forcing him into department monitoring would require him to spend time and money to come to Brooklyn at least once a year in order to be eligible for medical treatment.

Local 3621 has been highly critical of the FDNY and the city's ability to provide medical care to members injured or made sick by their recovery and rescue work at the World Trade Center site. Mr. Eppinger and Ms. Pizzitola have testified to the City Council's Civil Service and Labor and Fire and Criminal Justice committees that their members are often unfairly denied Workers' Compensation payments and Line of Duty Injury claims.

DC 37: 'Programs Identical'

She said that the FDNY, by denying all recent 9/11 LODI claims, "removes members from pay, they lose their insurance and cannot support themselves. Yet they want to force me into a medical monitoring program and take care of me? Where is the logic in this?"

A DC 37 safety official defended its position on the bill.

"DC 37 is working with other unions locally and nationally to ensure that our members - the first-responders - have access to good health care and the funding necessary to keep the World Trade Center medical monitoring and treatment program up and running," said Lee Clarke, DC 37's director of occupational safety and health.

She believed that keeping FDNY members and retirees in a department-based program was not a problem.

"They're two programs being funded by Federal monies," she said. "The programs are identical."

Local 2507 President Patrick Bahnken, who represents EMS technicians and Paramedics, did not think the Zadroga Act in its current form would necessarily restrict EMS members' access to medical care and said that department monitoring was overall beneficial.

'Must Join to Benefit'

"The purpose of the program is to track the data to develop trends to justify further funding," he said. "The Fire Department, like it or not, has the most comprehensive medical records pre- and post-9/11 that have the ability to demonstrate trends. It is the engine that is really driving a lot of this legislation. You cannot expect to get the benefits of the monitoring program without participating in the program."

Ms. Pizzitola and Mr. Eppinger wrote a letter Oct. 31 to U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a key sponsor of the Zadroga Act, asking her to amend the bill, and sought to meet with her to make their case.

"This program affects all firefighters and EMS personnel," Ms. Pizzitola said, "yet we appear to be the only ones that believe that freedom is a right we are entitled to and are fighting for it."