JULIE KNIPE BROWN
Reprinted with Permission, Philadelphia Daily News
Retired Philadelphia firefighter Kevin Myers, whose face has come to symbolize the plight of firefighters stricken with hepatitis C, was hospitalized yesterday in intensive care.
As Myers' liver continued to deteriorate, Mayor Street promised leaders of the city's firefighters union that he will try to speed up financial aid to help pay medical expenses for those stricken with the deadly virus.
A meeting is planned for Friday between city and union officials. The meeting was set up one day after the Daily News reported that the city has failed to keep its promise to help firefighters suffering from the disease, some of whom are gravely ill.
Despite the meeting, the union's attorney said she still senses a "reticence" on the part of city officials - not only to fulfill the mayor's commitment - but to also work to resolve other disease-related matters causing physical and emotional suffering among the city's sick firefighters.
"City Council members are outraged," said Councilman James Kenney, whose father is a retired firefighter. "There's no good reason that this group of firefighters who are suffering should have to go through bureaucratic red tape. It's been too long."
Street in January promised to pay up to $3 million a year to defray medical costs for firefighters with hepatitis C. Tests in November showed that 140 retired and active firefighters are infected with the virus, a rate three times the national average.
Hepatitis C, which is spread through contact with blood, has outpaced the AIDS virus as a national health concern. Some health experts and doctors theorize that many of the Philadelphia firefighters were infected on the job, possibly while handling contaminated blood during rescues and medical calls.
Yesterday, Council members said they were surprised to learn that the mayor hadn't come through with the money he promised.
"The mayor didn't say 'I'm going to think about it.' He didn't say 'I'm going to try to do it.' He said 'I'm going to do it.' We assumed it had been done. You don't make commitments like that unless you follow through with them," said Councilman David Cohen.
Neither Street, nor his chief of staff, Stephanie Franklin-Suber, could be reached for comment.
Council President Anna Verna, a Street ally, also failed to return phone calls.
Earlier this week, union leaders said they fear the city was using "stall tactics," and that some firefighters could die before they see a single dollar.
Some undergoing painful treatment have been forced to pay thousands of dollars for prescriptions, and others who retired no longer have any insurance.
Meanwhile, the city continues to force sick firefighters into Workers Compensation Court to prove the disease is job-related.
The union's attorney, Deborah Willig, said the union has set up a trust for the money, a trust that is subject to audit and oversight by a board that includes city representatives.
"What more does Stephanie Franklin-Suber want? We recognize that this is taxpayer money, we recognize the need for accountability. But our firefighters are taxpayers, too, and they've risked their lives for this city."
George Casey, president of Local 22, Philadelphia Fire Fighters Union, which represents the city's 4,000 active and retired firefighters, said he spoke with Street, and is confident the mayor will come through.
"He said he will try to speed things up," Casey said. "I don't think it's him; I think it's others in his administration who may be holding things up."
Yesterday, Shirley Myers was holding a bedside vigil at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, where her husband, 51, was admitted with critically low blood pressure.
She said she has a stack of phone messages at home as a result of the article about her husband in yesterday's Daily News, and nurses yesterday recognized him from his picture on the paper's front pages.
But Myers, a 25-year veteran of the department, was too sick to even know that people are rooting for him.
"He's very, very weak. He doesn't know what's going on," his wife said.
"We just hope that someone calls with a liver."
A fund-raiser, sponsored by Our Place Tavern in Southwest Philadelphia, will be held for Myers, whose city medical benefits expired in January. For more information on the April 7 event, call Shawn at 215-365-7944.
