Chief Leader

The Civil Service and Labor and Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committees heard testimony from U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney pressing for passage of a resolution supporting the James Zadroga Act, named for a Detective who died from what many believed to be 9/11-related illness, which is now in the U.S. House of Representatives.

'A National Scandal'

"This is a national scandal," said Congresswoman Maloney of the fact that many 9/11-responders cannot afford medical treatment.

Congressman Nadler explained that the Zadroga Act, if passed and signed by the President, would "ensure that everyone exposed to toxins at Ground Zero has a right to be medically monitored, and that anyone who is sick as a result is entitled to treatment and compensation, no matter how you were affected or where you live."

Council Speaker Christine Quinn assured the lawmakers that the Council would pass the resolution on Feb. 13 and that it would reach out to other city councils nationwide to build support for the act. The Council's Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee Chairman Alan Gerson lamented that the Federal Government has not yet enacted the bill.

"It is a moral stain on us that we have not done so," he said. "Why do you even have to have a hearing? This should be an issue beyond discussion."

Will Improve Treatment

Mr. Gerson, who voiced strong support for the resolution in favor of the Zadroga Act, added that medical monitoring would lead to more research, which would improve medical service.

"We don't know everything that we need to know," he said. "More needs to be provided. And this bill will assure that."

Congressman Nadler added that the Zadroga Act had the support of 66 other Representatives as well as Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer and the State AFL-CIO. District Council 37 and Community Board 1 in lower Manhattan also voiced support.

Representatives of Local 3621 of DC 37, which represents Emergency Medical Service officers, took issue with a provision of the bill that would keep all FDNY uniformed employees in a treatment and medical monitoring program run by the FDNY.

Wants Right to Go Outside

"We need this bill; it just needs a little tweak," said Local 3621 President Tom Eppinger.

He said that FDNY uniformed employees should have the right to seek medical treatment and monitoring outside of their employer's program.

"While many employees and retirees are happy with their care at FDNY, many others are not," Mr. Eppinger said. "It should be noted that our NYPD counterparts and other uniform and civilian city responders are not bound by such restrictions - they are afforded the freedom to choose their healthcare provider."

Testifying with Mr. Eppinger, Uniformed FDNY EMS Retirees Association President Marianne Pizzitola claimed some members of Local 3621 have not made their 9/11 ailments public because they feared termination without proper compensation from the FDNY.

Former Emergency Medical Technician Stephen Hess testified that he was fired by the department as a result of his 9/11-related illnesses, and without a disability pension and soon to be without health insurance, he said he is facing a financial crisis.

He has been getting treatment at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and called for the change in language to the Zadroga Act.

'Can't Go Back'

"I would not want to be mandated to return to the FDNY, and see no reason to when Mt. Sinai has helped me where the FDNY did not," he said.

Council Member Gerson and Civil Service and Labor Committee Chairman Joseph P. Addabbo vowed to look into the matter before voting on the resolution.

But Patrick J. Bahnken, who as president of DC 37 Local 2507 represents EMTs and Paramedics, saw no problems with keeping firefighters and EMS employees in an FDNY monitoring program, and his reasoning was personal. It was discovered through his participation in the FDNY monitoring program in December, he said, that he had renal cancer in the early stages, and he was able to get swift treatment. He rejected claims by Mr. Eppinger and Ms. Pizzitola that participation in the program violated confidentiality.

"This conjecture should be readily dismissed," he said. "My case is factual. At no time was I ever subjected to any exam without my consent, and never was my confidentiality breached."

Along with leaders from the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Mr. Bahnken has stated that keeping firefighters and EMS workers in an FDNY-based program was important because it preserved the integrity of the research that would be used to argue for more Federal funding in the future.

'Should Pool Data'

Ms. Pizzitola later responded by saying that the research could still be collected if members had the choice to go to other treatment centers. "They should be pooling this information and they're not," she said.

Mr. Eppinger added in his testimony that James Zadroga would support the change in the legislation if he were alive. Joseph Zadroga, the father of James Zadroga, has said he sided with Mr. Eppinger and Ms. Pizzitola over the issue of FDNY monitoring.

"I really think it's kind of unfair to send them [into FDNY monitoring]," he said in a phone interview last month. "I don't see why they're trying to do this, but apparently that's what they're doing."

In his testimony, Uniformed Fire Officers Association Treasurer Edward Boles said that in addition to the resolution, City Council Members should join with union leaders and residents to go to Washington to rally in support of the Zadroga Act.

"We need to take this show on the road," he said. "Let's take buses. Let's go down there."