PEP, June 2007: WTC trauma grips co-workers

Radio Repair Mechanics who worked at Ground Zero live with deep emotional scars. Co-workers of RRM Glenford Pennington were devastated by his death from cancer, which they attribute to his work at Ground Zero. Meanwhile, they cope with their own health problems related to their work at the 9/11 disaster site.

Pat Muñiz has been hospitalized three times for posttraumatic stress since he worked at Ground Zero.

A Vietnam War vet, Muñiz said the 9/11 blazes at the World Trade Center triggered a flashback of a 1971 missile attack that wiped out a small barracks near his quarters and killed 12 soldiers.

Muñiz worked three straight days at Ground Zero. Feeling awful and with his blood pressure high, on Sept. 14, 2001, he checked himself into the hospital where physicians concluded that his post-traumatic stress from his military days had recurred. He remained on sick leave until December.

Since 9/11, Muñiz visited a psychiatrist and took medication to ease the psychological trauma for three years. He also had two additional hospital stays.

Concerned about the side effects, Muñiz doesn’t regularly use medication for the post-traumatic stress anymore, although he is probably permanently scarred by Vietnam and 9/11. “Anything that reminds me of 9/11 affects me,” he said. “I don’t even watch the news.”

RRM Tom Mecir, a Local 1087 shop steward and a 12-year veteran of the Fire Dept., also worked at Ground Zero. He suffers from post-traumatic stress, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, an ear illness and the upper respiratory problems that affect the lungs of many who breathed the dust-laden fumes of 9/11. He uses an inhaler to increase his breathing capacity, which he said was 20 percent below normal.

Mecir said he was learning to cope with his illness. However, as the breadwinner of his family, Mecir’s principal worry is what would happen to his wife and 5-year-old daughter if he goes on disability or dies.

“We are the orphans of the Fire Department,” said Mecir, hurt and resentful that nonuniformed employees are excluded from its 9/11 medical program. Another sore spot for civilian workers is that they didn’t get the service awards given to Firefighters and Emergency Medical Service employees. Pennington’s death warranted only a brief mention in the department’s newsletter.

“We are very dedicated to our jobs, but unfortunately there is a wall between the uniformed and civilian employees,” said Radio Repair Mechanic Robert Moradfar, who was with Mecir on the day of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“It is outrageous that our members weren’t included in the medical program, and it is unconscionable that the Fire Department has never really acknowledged their contribution to the disaster response,” said Victor Emanuelson, president of Local 1087. A study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about half of rescue and recovery workers showed signs of mental illness, including post-traumatic stress.

“The people with post-traumatic stress are living through a recurring nightmare that they are going to die because of their work at Ground Zero,” said Lee Clarke, director of the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept.

— Gregory N. Heires