Thread: Sick undocumented 9/11 cleanup workers demand health coverag

Sick undocumented 9/11 cleanup workers demand health coverage, legal status for work at Ground Zero

BY Erica Pearson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Monday, March 1st 2010, 2:31 PM

Nearly a decade ago, Liliana Sanchez stood knee-deep in dust at an office building near Ground Zero, vacuuming for $60 a day with only a paper mask to protect her.

These days, the undocumented Colombian immigrant struggles to breathe while climbing a flight of subway stairs and worried about the future of her medical care.

"They called us heroes while we were working and we also felt like heroes. Now they have pushed us aside," said the 40-year-old from Medellin.

Sanchez will join 200 other undocumented 9/11 cleanup workers Tuesday at a rally to push for continued health coverage and legal immigration status.

Most of their compensation suits they have filed are pending, and they feel stuck in limo while health-care and immigration changes are on the horizon.

"These folks are sort of at the center of a perfect storm," said Javier Valdes, deputy director of Make the Road New York, a non-profit advocacy group.

"We don't want immigration reform to pass in 2012 and have these people pass away."

The workers say they are grateful for federally funded medical care they get but are afraid it could vanish without mandatory funding.

"At any moment...they could cut our benefits, and take this away from us," said Jose Gaviria, 59, another Colombian immigrants.

He gets free psychological treatment and care for 9/11-related conditions like chronic rhinitis and acid reflux through the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mt. Sinai.

"It was traumatizing work," said Gaviria, who can't forget finding a boot with someone's foot inside as he cleaned offices.

Now his wife and son, who also worked near Ground Zero, are having breathing problems.

"These illnesses are only beginning to show themselves," he said.

http://oneoldvet.com/

www.nydailynews.com

"He gets free psychological treatment and care for 9/11-related conditions like chronic rhinitis and acid reflux through the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mt. Sinai."

You know what "rhinitis" is? It's a damn runny nose, an allergy like hay fever, pet allergies, pet dander allergens etc, probably because he's in the wrong country and allergic to the air in New York or has a pet he's allergic to. He should go home to Colombia to the air he's used to and cure his runny nose. Same with his acid reflux. He's in the wrong country eating the wrong food.

Psychological treatment because he saw a boot with a foot in it?!

My mother was driving home from an appointment one day and saw a concrete mix truck run off a bridge to dodge a car. When the truck went over the bridge in the river below, it left the driver on the highway. Mom stopped her car and went running up to help but unfortunately the young man had been severed at the waist and only his bottom half was left on the highway, his torso had gone over the bridge into the river. She was so sad for this young man. She went driving all over to call for help and found a house with someone home and called but another car had seen it too and already called as well so the police and ambulance were on their way. Just a young kid whose parents owned the concrete company and he was driving a load of wet concrete to a work site.

Did my mother need psychological help? No. Did she need to sue someone? No. Did she need US law changed because she saw a man severed at the waist? No.

My Dad served on a Coroner's Jury for a man, a friend of his, who died in a fire. All that was left of his friend was a burnt torso. The Coroner's Jury had to investigate and determine the cause of death. It looked like a simple matter of a man who went to bed, the house had caught on fire, and he didn't wake up in time to get out. But Dad didn't think so, because a belt buckle was on the torso and Dad didn't think his friend would go to bed without taking off his pants and belt. The Coroner wanted to hurry up and settle it and the other citizens on the jury kind of went along with the Coroner but Dad resisted and refused to sign the report because he just didn't think this was what happened. But the family wanted a burial and the Coroner was the local undertaker so they went ahead with the funeral and burial. I happened to come home from college that weekend and Dad talked about it, and I said Dad you've got to go with your gut, what if there was foul play? Dad said if there was foul play then he was probably shot. And I said, then there will be a bullet in the torso. That Monday he told the Coroner he was demanding an autopsy before he would sign the Coroner's Report. So they had to dig up the casket to do an autopsy and sure enough, they found the bullet. The man had been murdered. They notified the Sheriff who investigated and they found the man's wallet not far down the roadway empty, so he'd been robbed, shot, his body put on the bed to make it look like he was sleeping and his house burned down to conceal the crime.

Did Dad need psychological treatment? No. Did Dad need US law changed because he'd seen and had to deal with a terrible murder? No.

Was it easy for my Mom and Dad seeing these things? No, it wasn't. But things happen, you deal with it and go on.

Most of their compensation suits they have filed are pending, and they feel stuck in limo while health-care and immigration changes are on the horizon.

Is this a Freudian slip it pretty much says it doesn't it.