Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...After September 11: The gay emergency responders
By 2006, 70 percent of the 90,000 rescue workers who worked at Ground Zero during the 10-month cleanup and were screened by the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York had developed some type of respiratory illness.
In addition to severe respiratory conditions, many first responders suffer from a wide range of illnesses including PTSD and various forms of cancer. Over 75 first responders have been diagnosed with rare blood cancers that doctors have linked to Ground Zero exposure, according to the Village Voice.
Four hundred emergency responders have died since 9/11 due to 9/11-related illnesses.
Due to the extent of Giebfried’s illnesses, and her constant stream of doctors’ appointments, she is no longer able to work as an EMT – a job she held for nine years before 2001. In fact, she is so sick that she is unable to work in any capacity.
To call Giebfried’s extensive medical treatments “expensive” would be an understatement. Despite the post-9/11 fanfare about honoring those who served at Ground Zero, she has received little help with her healthcare costs. She has struggled to receive compensation from her union, the city of New York and the federal government.
Giebfried is not alone.
Forty percent of those monitored by Mount Sinai Medical Center lacked health insurance. About 10,000 Ground Zero workers are currently suing New York City for benefits, according to the New York Post.
“We’re still waiting to have health care, to have health benefits, have our pensions,” Giebfried says of first responders. “And this has been a battle that’s been going on since 2001.”
Her health care costs have taken a permanent toll on her finances. “I lost my life savings and I’m in a hole for a lot of money,” she admits.
In addition to the health and financial problems faced by the first responder community at large, LGBT responders face additional challenges.
According to Giebfried, many LGBT first responders are hesitant to come out: “They can be fired, they can lose their pension.”
“There are a couple that will come out,” she says, “but it all depends on where they are with…workman’s comp.”
Next page: The special challenges of LGBT emergency responders
Thanks for info. am MD. Daughter pre ER MD. Sent her site.
Thanks for bringing attention to these heroes in our community and their current struggles. I am inspired by their actions and hope advocates help them receive the care, compassion and compensation they deserve for their sacrifices and their physical and mental healthcare.
I don’t understand why these first responders are having so much problems getting the help they need?
Knowing that there are some of them without insurance and health care, not to mention financial strain, is disgusting.
This is unacceptable. But then why am I so surprised? We don’t seem to be doing much for the soldiers that come back from Iraq with health and mental problems, so I guess we’re going true to form.
So much for the “touching” tribute to the victims of 9/11 that was shown at the RNC. “We shall never forget!” True line…we won’t forget, but we won’t do anything for you either.
This must be my day to blog. This article just tore me up. The way these angels were trated is shocking. I am incensed and just plain p’d off. I can answer several questions to statements by Bonnie and Tom. They don’t want to help you because you are gay, they just don’t want to do anything. It takes too much of their time as a govt. bureauocrat. Without going into it I would suggest you read my letter on the aging of elderly gays. I can’t do much in this world but I’m trying my darndest to get support for healthcare in A merica. People, we need to demand our ELECTED OFFICIALS start to do what’s right and quit spending trillions on bombs and weapons of mass destruction and use that cash to get good medical care for persons like these brave first responders the help they need. How can Bush and all the restr who are supposed to be in charge of America’s health care do their job? Easy, DO IT NOW! I don’t know how they can sleep at night with the bad job they AREN’T DOING!!! This is shameful and to me borders on inhuman abuse and neglect. We need healthcare now. We must vote in a president who cares and will do what desperately needs to be done. That person is Barak Obama. I will keep on fighting the fight for us. You can be assured. This topic is too serious to ignore in favor of all the other trivial stuff floating around out there. Love, Doug
As a firefighter and filmmaker, I documented life at ground zero following the Trade Center attacks. I consider myself fortunate to have met Rev. Bonnie Giebfried during follow-up interviews and Jennifer Beckham a bit later. The way in which these two brave women have been treated by management and government is shameful. What treatment these responders have received is a testament to their will to survive, the same will that guided them on 9/11/01 when they were buried alive…twice. These women are heroes in my book, and I know of no one, with the possible exception of Rudy Gulliani, who doesn’t feel as I do.
Wilmington, DE