WTC hero wins health coverage

Sickened L.I. man also gets workers' comp


BY ADAM NICHOLS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Vito Valenti, whose 9/11 service led to severe scarring of his lungs, is among first Ground Zero heroes to win full medical coverage.

Crippled 9/11 hero Vito Valenti's lungs were terminally scarred at Ground Zero, but the injury couldn't stop him from seeing justice finally done this week.
For months, the volunteer who was among the first into the World Trade Center's toxic cloud has been relying on the generosity of strangers for vital medicine and oxygen he couldn't afford.

On Wednesday, he heard a judge order his health costs covered - putting an end to the wearying legal battle.

"I felt the pressure lift right off my chest," he said yesterday. "It was like somebody had lifted 1,000 pounds off me."

Valenti, 42, from Elmont, L.I., inhaled the asbestos and chemical-laden dust at Ground Zero as he answered a call for help in the two days after 9/11.

A hacking cough he developed eight months later was eventually diagnosed as pulmonary fibrosis - a scarring of the lungs so severe that without a transplant, he could expect to live for only five to six years.

He had to quit his job as a union rep with District Council 37. With it went his health benefits.

Technicalities in the workers' compensation system stopped him - like many suffering because of their bravery that day - from claiming coverage.

The system, designed for everyday workplace injuries, had a two-year deadline for claims to be made. By the time Valenti's illness was evident, that deadline had passed.

He has been forced to rely on donations from medical companies, doctors and members of the public moved to help.

But on Wednesday, a judge ruled changes to the law made by Gov. Pataki in August after the Daily News highlighted Valenti's plight, and that of many like him, made him eligible.

"What the governor did was make it so that people in that situation could have their case reviewed again," said a Workers' Compensation Board source.

"How can they adhere to a deadline if they didn't know they were ill until after it had passed?"

The judge ordered that the Workers' Compensation Board grant Valenti its maximum coverage of $400 a week in living expenses and unlimited medical coverage, backdated to August of last year.

While hundreds of people like Valenti could potentially seek coverage, an exact number was not available yesterday.

"I am delighted," said Valenti. "I have finally got some good news.

"I can see a doctor when I need to. I don't need to worry about where the next lot of drugs are going to come from, and I can finally get the tests to put me on the list for a transplant.

"I know I haven't got long to live. I know it's a race against time, but at least now, I can enter the race."

Valenti's attorney, Victor Pasternak, said, "Vito could be the poster child as the first positive result for this change in the law.

"After 32 years of practice, it still feels great when someone gives you a hug for helping them."

Originally published on December 22, 2006


http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/482418p-405909c.html

The Year At The World Trade Center Site: Health Concerns Plague 9/11 First Responders

December 20, 2006

As we wind down 2006, NY1 continues to look back on the year that was. It has been five years since the attacks on the World Trade Center but for many who responded to help there, the health problems are just beginning. NY1’s Rebecca Spitz looks at these health issues that characterized 2006.

A staggering 70-percent of World Trade Center first responders are suffering from respiratory problems. In September, Mount Sinai Hospital released a groundbreaking study on the health of the firefighters, police officers, construction, and transit workers who responded to the terror attacks.

"I have burnt lungs,” said WTC responder John Graham. “I have asthma, reactive airway disease, gastric reflux, post-traumatic stress and a host of other things."

One of the more striking findings was that among those who had no health problems before September 11th, 2001, 61-percent developed symptoms after exposure.

"There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center,” said Dr. Robin Herbert of Mount Sinai. “Our patients are sick and will need on-going health monitoring and treatment for the rest of their lives."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was too soon to draw that conclusion. Still, the city opened an environmental health center at Bellevue Hospital for those first responders and anyone who felt they were suffering from the effects of the dust they inhaled after the attacks.

And the state government also did its part to contribute to the health of 9/11 first responders. Earlier, Governor George Pataki signed legislation giving full line of duty benefits to the family of any firefighter, police officer, or uniformed person who dies of a 9/11-related illness.

"We asked a great deal of our heroes after the horrible attacks, and they gave without asking anything back,” said Pataki. “Now it's our turn."

But the fallout from the attacks continued, this time in court, as more than 8,000 workers were represented in a federal lawsuit that alleges the city failed to properly protect them from toxic dust and debris after the terror attacks.

The plaintiffs include police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.

“Yesterday I got a phone call from an electrician whose husband died of stomach cancer,” explained the plaintiffs’ attorney, David Worby. “And three days earlier we got another call from a relative of someone who died from throat and tongue cancer. Those people were given zero protection."

The city's attorneys countered the city and the contractors it hired did everything they could to provide air-filtering masks and instructions on how to use them.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency planned to resume cleaning up toxins around the World Trade Center site. As part of a new $7 million plan, residents and building owners south of Canal Street and West of Allen and Pike Streets can have their air and dust tested for toxins, which the EPA will then clean up.

The plan is getting a thumbs-down from local lawmakers though. Congressman Jerry Nadler and Senator Hillary Clinton blast the program, calling it inadequate. But the EPA is pushing ahead, advertising a two-month registration program to begin in January.

- Rebecca Spitz

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=203&aid=65281

Life after 9-11 for a struggling survivor

More than five years after the attack on America, a Myrtle Beach man is now becoming a victim.

He volunteered to help in the clean up, and now doctors say he suffers from an illness related to his time spent at Ground Zero. He can't work and now with medical bills piling up, he's going to auction off his most prized possesion to make ends meet.

Jay Bingham was a volunteer in the clean up after the 9-11 disaster. He has memory after memory of his two week challenge to find survivors left in the aftermath. Now he faces worries of his own.

"I worry about Rose and the baby, and I just want to make sure that they're taken care of," said Bingham. "I don't want her to have to worry when we have bills and stuff."

Bingham's been in and out of the hospital, and now the medical bills are piling up along with other bills for insurance, taxes, and basic utilities. Doctors aren't sure what's wrong with him, but he has headaches, nasal problems, and constant shortness of breath.

"This is the honest to God truth," said Bingham. "I'm giving the baby a bath, I'm not doing anything, it's just a five minute bath, and got so out of breath, I couldn't finish, and I'm like what's wrong with me."

After the disaster, doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York say they've treated hundreds of other people suffering from the same symptoms as Bingham. The government will pay for treatment, but not at hospitals here where he lives on the Grand Strand. His closest option is Duke, which is almost four hours away. He's been paying for his visits to local hospitals out of his own pocket and says he can't do it anymore.

"This whole time, I'm frustrated, because I'm already spending money, and now I've spent my savings," said Bingham. "And now I'm trying to start all over, and every time I try to start, I'm having health problems."

So now he plans to auction off something very dear to his heart, the helmet he wore during the clean up. It's one of only twelve signed by celebrities and others who visited the site of the disaster.

"I want the baby to have a good life," said Bingham. "So that's more important than the helmet."

Bingham has his helmet on E-bay now, and it'll be posted until Christmas Day for bids.

http://www.wpde.com/news/viewarticle.asp?view=3330