Many first responders see peace of mind in Zadroga bill

For first responders, passage of the Zadroga 9/11 health care bill would provide peace of mind.

"This should be a hands-down decision," said Anthony Flammia, 48, a former New York Police Department highway patrolman who lives in Miller Place. Flammia, who suffers from a heart ailment, chronic sinusitis and post-traumatic stress disorder, said he is hopeful the bill will pass "if the right people . . . do the right thing."

James Ryder, 46, of Commack said the bill's passage would give him comfort in the face of an uncertain medical future.

Ryder, also a former NYPD highway patrolman, said he has been suffering from an elevated heart rate, sleep apnea and PTSD for several years but it has only been in the last several months that he realized his symptoms could be related to his working four months at Ground Zero.

"Before that I hadn't put it altogether," he said.

Getting the $7.4 billion bill through the Senate - it passed the House in September - would mean "knowing there is someone there to help and knowing there is a place to go for that help," he said.

That's also key for Christine Famiglietti, 50, of Bay Shore. The former NYPD officer in the 113th Precinct in Queens said she worries that if the bill doesn't pass the Senate she and others won't be able to pay their medical bills. Famiglietti, who worked at Ground Zero for eight months, said she just got over a sinus infection so severe it ended up causing ear damage which in turn has given her vertigo.

"It's one thing after another," she said.

Although she has health insurance, she said it only pays about 80 percent of her medical costs. "If the bill doesn't pass, we'll all be on our own," she said.

Ronald King, 45, of Valley Stream is hoping the bill - which would reopen the Victims Compensation Fund - might relieve some of his financial woes.

A native of Guyana, King volunteered at Ground Zero for about three months. He said the experience left him with severe lung problems and PTSD and he hasn't been able to work since 2008.

He now lives off his Social Security and Workers' Compensation.

He has lost a second home he owned in Brooklyn, all his savings and is facing foreclosure on his Valley Stream home.

He said he doesn't have "the fight in me anymore" to try to save his home, but passage of the bill could help.

"If it goes through maybe it would compensate me for lost earnings and that would be good," he said.