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 If
anyone deserves to be called “Hometown Heroes,” it’s
Marvin Bethea and James Dobson - two Queens paramedics
who responded on 9/11 and were stricken with disabling
illnesses afterward - according to several New York
Congressmembers.
However, neither paramedic has even received a response
from the Federal Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
about their applications to the Public Safety Officers’
Benefits (PSOB) program. They sent the paperwork in more
than a year ago along with applications of three other
9/11 responders - Michael Roberts and Bonnie Giebfried,
both of who are living, and David Sullins, who is
believed to have died at the site.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey,
five Congressmembers wrote, “Now, over a year after
submitting their PSOB program applications, these five
are still waiting for an answer. The heroes of 9/11
deserve better.”
The letter is much like one sent by four Congressmembers
- Carolyn Maloney, Anthony Weiner, Vito Fossella and
Peter King to then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez dated December 2006. A spokesperson for Maloney
said that none of the legislators, recently joined by
Jerrold Nadler, have received any response to their
requests.
Nor have 48-year-old Kew Gardens resident Bethea and
55-year-old Middle Village resident Dobson, both of whom
applied in December 2006, Bethea said. Bethea, who was
diagnosed with World Trade Center (WTC) cough,
sinusitis, asthma, depression |
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and Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD), had to stop working in 2004,
about the same time as his paramedic-partner
Dobson had to quit his job because of similar
afflictions.
“Here it is over a year now, and they still
haven’t given us a decision one way or the
other,” Bethea said, who said he has sought
legal help but was told, “There is nothing they
can do until we get a formal decision.”
Since filing their application, however, Bethea
said he has heard about three other 9/11
responders who have been awarded benefits
through the BJA program.
“At least tell us something. They could say, ‘We
don’t feel you are qualified to receive
something,’” Bethea said, adding, “You try to be
diplomatic about it but how much longer are we
supposed to wait?”
So Bethea is forced to wait as he makes repeated
phone calls to inquire about his application.
Several calls to the BJA from The Queens Courier
were not also returned by press time.
In the meantime, Bethea hopes to enlist more
elected officials when he travels to Washington,
D.C. to attend the State of the Union address
given by President George Bush on Monday,
January 28. He is also considering calling a
press conference to alert more media of his
situation and that of the four other New York
responders.
“Hopefully we will be able to get more
politicians on board,” he said.
Bethea is also strongly encouraging elected
officials to support a federal bill, named for
34-year-old New York Police Department (NYPD)
Detective James Zadroga, whose death was the
first officially linked to time spent at Ground
Zero.
On the second anniversary of Zadroga’s death -
January 5 - Maloney, Nadler and Fossella pledged
to double their efforts to pass the bill, which
would ensure that everyone exposed to the Ground
Zero toxins have the chance to be medically
monitored. Additionally, those who are sick as a
result would have access to treatment, there
would be an expansion of the “Centers of
Excellence” medical care, and care would be
increased to anyone including local residents,
teachers and children who were exposed and
compensation provided for economic damages by
reopening the 9/11 Compensation Fund.
“On this sad occasion, we honor Detective
Zadroga’s sacrifice and we applaud his family’s
tireless efforts to ensure that our country will
finally do right by the heroes of 9/11,” Maloney
said in a statement released on Friday, January
4.
Still, Bethea counts a law signed into effect by
Governor Eliot Spitzer in October 2007 as a big
victory for 9/11 responders.
The law amended the Workers’ Compensation Law to
raise benefits for paramedics and EMTs from
private hospitals who died or were left
permanently or temporarily disabled after
responding to the attacks on the World Trade
Center. Until last year, responders like Bethea
whose jobs were contracted through private
institutions, received much less than their
city-employed counterparts, even though both
were required to respond to the World Trade
Center attacks.
“New York State has recognized us as being part
of the system,” Bethea said, later adding, “Now
we are getting abandoned by the Justice
Department.”
Despite the setbacks, Bethea said that he
continues to advocate for responders so that
their actions are not forgotten.
“People tell me, ‘Marvin, you are always in the
news,’ but everyone else is either sick or not
with us anymore,” he said.
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