Honor Para Who Died Young;

Delayed 9/11 Victim?
Honor Para Who Died Young

Emergency Medical Technician Diana Baez experienced first-hand five years ago what drove her late colleague, Paramedic Deborah Reeve, to become a first-responder. When Ms. Baez was at home sick, Ms. Reeve visited to deliver soup and flowers.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane 'HER DREAM WAS TO HELP PEOPLE': The Fire Department honored late Paramedic Deborah Reeve with a plaque ceremony last week at EMS Station 20 in The Bronx. From left to right are her former EMS partner Kim Nelthrope, Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, her daughter Elizabeth, husband Paramedic David Reeve, and Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. In front is her son Mark.

"She took care of everybody," Ms. Baez said. "She stayed with me for hours. She prayed with me."

Honored With Plague

Ms. Baez became overwrought with emotion as she watched Fire Department leaders unveil a plaque for Ms. Reeve March 11 at the Emergency Medical Service Station 20 in the Morris Park section of The Bronx. Ms. Reeve died on March 15, 2006 at age 42 from mesothelioma, a deadly cancer her friends and family believe was contracted during her time working at Ground Zero, where many responders, often lacking respirators, were exposed to toxins such as benzene, asbestos and pulverized concrete, in addition to particles of human remains.

Family members and EMS members recalled an upbeat woman who was an active leader in her Presbyterian church. Her partner, Paramedic Kim Nelthrope, called her a "people person" who remembered everyone's names and eagerly approached her shift, which started at midnight.

"Her dream was to help people; she wanted to work in the medical field," said her brother Guillermo Santos, a Port Authority Bus Terminal Agent. "EMS was her calling."

DEBORAH REEVE

It was in a training course for EMS, where she began work in 1989, that she met David Reeve, a Paramedic who would become her husband of 14 years. She also left behind a son, Mark, and a daughter, Elizabeth.

'We Owe Her'

"Not many people can do what Deborah did every day, racing from emergency to emergency, ready at any moment to put the needs of others ahead of her own," said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta during the ceremony. "You either have that ability, I think, or you don't. And thankfully Deborah and thousands like her have it, had it, put it to good use for the City of New York, and of course we're all in a little bit of debt to her."

Some EMS employee advocates have pointed out that the department has stopped short of declaring that the deaths of Ms. Reeve and other first-responders like her were a direct result of their work at Ground Zero. EMS Lieut. Brian Ellicott died Nov. 26 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and had worked nearly 100 hours at Ground Zero after 9/11. His union, District Council 37 Local 3621, has protested the fact that his death was not considered a Line-of-Duty death and that his family did not receive benefits.

"Everybody who worked and have gotten sick and has died should be recognized," said Mr. Reeve, who is still a Paramedic. "Okay, they didn't have a hundred-and-ten-story building fall on them. They got sick afterwards doing what they were supposed to be doing."

Fears More Will Follow

He continued, "There'll be more people who will get sick, and hopefully by then things will be in place that can take care of the people that responded and got sick."

Uniformed FDNY EMS Retirees Association President Marianne Pizzitola said that while Ms. Reeve's family has received some benefits from the city, the department should state that her death was in the Line of Duty and that she should be considered a casualty of the 9/11 attacks.

"They've never acknowledged any municipal worker that worked at Ground Zero, developed an illness, became disabled and subsequently died from those illnesses, and this is one of those examples," Ms. Pizzitola said after the ceremony. "It's wonderful, this pomp and circumstance and memorialize her memory and her honor and who she was because Debbie was a phenomenal woman, but beyond the show they really need to start acknowledging some of these people."