JULIE KNIPE BROWN
Reprinted with Permission, Philadelphia Daily News
He is one of 140 Philadelphia firefighters with hepatitis C who are still waiting for Mayor Street to keep a promise he made three months ago to help them.
Now Myers is running out of medical benefits, and out of time.
"When we heard the mayor was coming to our rescue, we were elated. But now, we hear we might not get the money until July. I could be dead by then," said Myers, who is waiting for a liver transplant.
In January, following months of public pressure, Street announced the city would give up to $3 million a year to help with medical and prescription costs for firefighters stricken with hepatitis C.
But they have yet to see a single dollar of the money, and the city continues to force sick firefighters to prove in court that their illnesses are work-related.
"We think the city is using stall tactics," said Tom O'Drain, vice president of Local 22, Philadelphia Fire Fighters Union, which represents the city's 4,000 retired and active firefighters and paramedics.
"Our people are dying, or are sick, and they continue to pay for the medicine out of their pockets," O'Drain said.
And because the city still hasn't declared the disease work-related, firefighters undergoing painful treatment to abate the disease continue to work for fear of running out sick time and losing their jobs.
"There are some nights when the guys just put me to bed," said one stricken firefighter who continues to work while undergoing treatment. He declined to be identified for fear of being taken off the job.
Stephanie Franklin-Suber, Street's chief of staff, said yesterday the mayor fully intends to keep his promise to take care of the firefighters. City officials, she said, are working to "develop a program" under which the money will be distributed.
"To the extent we are using taxpayer dollars, we still have to have an accounting for it," she said, adding that the city has been waiting for cost information from the union.
But the union has given city officials everything it has gathered, O'Drain insists.
"They don't seem to understand that we might only have seven firefighters being treated right now," he said. "Next month, we might have 14 that need treatment. We're researching costs that go back 10 years for them, but we have guys that are dying now."
Oversight, he said, can be handled by a joint board of trustees, already set up to handle other union financial matters. The board includes members of the city's administration.
"My plea to the mayor is to use his power to cut through all the red tape," O'Drain said.
"We don't want to make enemies of people, but we need the money for our sick members."
He said some of that money would help retirees, like Myers, whose city benefits have run out.
Myers retired from the Fire Department four years ago, after serving 25 years. His city benefits ran out in January, two weeks after he suffered a near-fatal seizure. Now a sizeable chunk of his $1,700 per month pension goes toward a costly supplemental insurance policy that will only last 12 more months.
After that, he'll be without insurance. One company has rejected him because of his pre-existing condition. A benefit will be held for him next month, but his wife, Shirley, says many people are under the misperception that city firefighters have benefits for life.
"People come up and say, 'Why are you having a benefit? He's a firefighter, they get everything,'" his wife said. "Or, they say, 'Didn't John Street give them $3 million?'"
A benefit is being held Friday, April 7 for Myers, from 7 to 11 p.m., at Roche Post, 64th Street and Paschall Avenue. The $20 donation includes food, music and beverage. For information contact Engine 78, 215-492-3166.
