Ground Zero Workers Pay a Price
NY NEWSDAY

September 21, 2003

By Katia Hetter
STAFF WRITER

When he volunteered for three days at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack - in the days when almost no one wore protective gear - construction worker David Rapp could lift 100 pounds at a time for his job pounding steel supports into the ground.

In November 2001, the Belle Harbor resident said he returned to work at the World Trade Center site for pay, this time with protective gear, but it was too late. The dizziness, coughing and rashes started two months after his return, he said.

"I couldn't keep up, it was so embarrassing," said Rapp, 42, who hasn't worked at all since his symptoms sent him home from a job at Kennedy Airport in April 2002. Now he can barely walk a block without taking a break, and he carries his inhalers and a portable oxygen tank for breathing assistance.

Rapp, who is receiving workers' compensation benefits, and his wife, Meg, have had to move out of their three-bedroom rental home into an apartment to cut costs, while Meg Rapp has increased her hours as a caterer. They have gotten by on her wages, unemployment, workers' compensation, federal emergency aid and charity. Their son, Daniel, who works at Intel, took a leave of absence from his job to care for his father, and has taken over car payments and other expenses to help the family.

As one of the potentially hundreds of Ground Zero workers and volunteers who got sick after Sept. 11, Rapp said he doesn't blame anyone for his illness, which he said has been diagnosed as restricted airway disease, with his lungs coated with the dust of the trade center ruins. At any moment, he fears he could have an asthma attack that could kill him. He admits he was a longtime smoker until he got sick, adding that it was his choice to go to Ground Zero.

He's pretty sure his volunteer work in September 2001, and paid work at Ground Zero from November 2001 through March 2002, caused his disease. During that time, he worked to drive tiebacks into the site's slurry wall to stabilize it. He thinks the dust coating his lungs with toxins could eventually kill him, he said.

Worried about supporting his wife, he has applied for financial assistance from the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Applications are due Dec. 22.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D- Manhattan) urged sick Ground Zero workers to apply for the program.

"Rescue workers and volunteers have had a lot of questions about where to turn for help, and we finally have an answer," Maloney said. "Now we need to make sure everyone knows about this program before the deadline arrives at the end of the year."

Rapp is one of 1,500 Ground Zero rescue workers and volunteers represented by Michael Barasch, a partner in the Manhattan law firm of Barasch McGarry Salzman Penson & Lim. Barasch is credited in Steven Brill's book, "After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era," with talking to the fund's special master, Kenneth Feinberg, about expanding the fund's rules beyond victims' families, to include those injured in the attacks and rescue workers who became ill after working at the site.

Now that the fund accepts applications from volunteers, Feinberg has said he will use his discretion if necessary, to extend the 72-hour deadline by which they must have received medical care after Sept. 11.

Feinberg is encouraging people to apply before the Dec. 22 deadline, anticipating that all eligible claims will be processed and paid by June 15, 2004.

"We will process all completed applications immediately and authorize payment from the United States Treasury," he said in a statement. Payments vary from worker to worker, depending on the extent of their injuries, expected income and other factors.

"Of the 800 people [I represent] who are still sick, about one-half are back to work but still have symptoms when they exert themselves," Barasch said. "Ask them to carry 100 pounds up two flights of stairs and they can barely stand up.... it's not OK for a firefighter, police officer or sanitation worker, or any work that requires physical exertion."

The settlements are "six figures" and are being paid within 120 days of filing, he said, versus about four years of litigation if the rescue workers file lawsuits. The workers and volunteers give up their right to sue if they accept fund payments.

Volunteers filed just "a handful" of the 1,700 World Trade Center-related lawsuits against the city, according to Ken Becker, chief of the city Law Department's World Trade Center unit.

Meanwhile, Rapp takes 12 different medicines daily, uses an oxygen tank and inhalers to breathe and sleeps on a recliner, afraid he's going to choke at night if he lays in bed. He fears the humidity and the winter hindering his breathing.

"I paid a serious price," he said. "I don't think I'll work again. I don't see any improvement. I just see relief."



Aid Available

People who volunteered or worked at Ground Zero are eligible for help from several sources, including these:

The Victim Compensation Fund can be reached by going to www.usdoj.gov/victimcompensation under "compensation for personal injury victims" or calling 888-714-3385.

The New York Committee for Occupational Health and Safety (NYCOSH) also has information at www.nycosh.org/Victim_Comp_Fund_factsheet.html or by calling 212-627-3900.

The Health for Heroes/World Trade Center Health Effects Treatment Program can be reached at 212-241-9059. Social worker Scottie Hill is working with 200 patients, including 25 volunteers at Ground Zero, to find them benefits, including information about workers' compensation, free medical care and charitable assistance.

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.