Post by Prosay on Apr 19, 2020 10:39:04 GMT -5
DOCUMENT!....DOCUMENT.....DOCUMENT!
EVERYTHING!
If you are still on Patrol, going from radio run to radio run (and even if you're not) make sure any POSSIBLE exposure is DOCUMENTED somewhere. And if you are not carrying memo book inserts anymore, get one and carry it separately. If not, get a book from Staples or the like, anything where you can write down dates and times and locations and possibilities. Also note anyone else who was on the scene with you, even those from other agencies (EMS, Fire, etc).
We still don't know if any exposure to this virus will have lasting effects years after it's gone.
And here's a perfect example why:
nydailynews.com
Retired NYPD sergeant fighting for disability pension dies of 9/11-related cancerThomas Tracy
3-4 minutes
Retired NYPD Sgt. Sean Cameron, who was fighting the city to get disability pension for his 9/11-related cancer, lost his battle with the disease earlier this month, his family told the Daily News.
Cameron passed away from Stage 4 liver and colon cancer on Apr. 8 at a hospice center in South Carolina. He was 52.
“In the end he was in agony, but he kept asking us to help continue his fight about the pension,” Cameron’s wife Claudia told The News. “He wanted to know that after he was gone, the NYPD and the city did the right thing. What they’re doing now ... it’s just wrong."
The Police Pension Fund denied Cameron’s request for a 9/11 disability pension in February, saying they couldn’t confirm that the retired cop spent the requisite 40 hours at Ground Zero.
“They’re telling me they can only find 20 hours ... that I’m 20 hours shy,” Cameron told The News in March. “They’re saying, ‘We know you have a cancer from Ground Zero, but you just weren’t there long enough to qualify for a pension.’ "
The NYPD transit cop had just finished his shift when two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
Fearing that his father, who worked in one of the buildings, was caught in the collapse, the 52-year-old cop raced to Ground Zero to help where he could.
As he waded through the fleeing crowds, he ended up at a Burger King assisting about a dozen people looking for shelter, according to his lawsuit.
The NYPD never logged his time at Ground Zero, because “records were haphazardly kept in my district [and others] during this period," the cop wrote in his affidavit.
Cameron’s father luckily escaped before the towers fell.
Cameron was diagnosed with liver cancer shortly after he retired in 2017. The cancer was inextricably linked to his time at Ground Zero, his doctors claimed.
When he retired, Cameron received a basic NYPD pension of about $48,000 a year, which is about half a sergeant’s basic salary. A disability pension would be 75% of his salary tax-free — a $20,000 yearly financial boost.
Cameron’s suit is still pending at New York Supreme Court, officials said.
“This is a heart wrenching loss, and I wish the law would have allowed for a different ruling by the pension board,” a spokesman for the city Law Department said.
Cameron’s attorney, Timothy McEnaney, said the city’s denial was “irrational” and vowed to keep fighting. If they win, the money will go to the cop’s wife and their two teenage children.
“That the City would treat a man of this caliber this callously is unforgiveable and inexcusable and, unfortunately, probably foreshadows how the City will treat our current first responders, the ones now injured and dying in the line of duty because of exposure to COVID-19," McEnaney said.