Five city DA investigators dropped dead from job stress in just one year — prompting worried union officials to launch an emergency health plan for their workers.
"I felt so helpless watching these guys die in such a short space of time. Think about losing a guy who's 50 years old to a heart condition. Then think about losing five guys to heart conditions,'' said John Fleming, president of the Detective Investigator Association.
"You're so shocked, and it's like, 'What's going on here?' " Fleming told The Post.
The five investigators suffered stress-related heart attacks between early 2012 and early 2013, and a sixth prober recently died of similar heart complications, Fleming said.
Another six DA detectives suffered strokes in 2014, some of whom are permanently out of commission.
Many of the union's members are retired NYPD detectives, sergeants and lieutenants, all of whom have worked in law enforcement for 20-plus years.
Their average age is 49, but some investigators are in their 70s and suffer from a host of different ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure and weight problems.
"[They] have much shorter lives than the rest of the population because of stress," said Fleming, whose union has 300 members in the city's district-attorney and Special Narcotics offices.
"There's the stress internally within the department — the rules, the directives, the bureaucracy — it's always constant," he said.
But the stress on the street is even worse, Fleming said.
"When the s–t hits the fan after . . . downtime, all of a sudden your body has to become focused and ready, and it can be a shock to the system,'' he said.
So two weeks ago, the union joined with Mount Sinai Hospital to roll out a pilot program called Total Worker Health, in which workers are closely monitored by doctors.
There's the stress internally within the department — the rules, the directives, the bureaucracy — it's always constant. - John Fleming, president of the Detective Investigator Association
"A lot of the members are too busy to go to the doctor on their own because the job is all consuming," Fleming said. "Or, they don't want to go to the doctor because they fear what he's going to tell them."
Fleming first got the ball rolling on the new health program about six months ago.
Bronx Detectives Jose Martinez, 58, and Raymond Jones, 51, Manhattan Deputy Chief Tom Jackson, 64, Manhattan Supervisor Investigator Andrew Finan, 53, and a Brooklyn undercover investigator, 55, had all died of cardio-pulmonary issues the year before.
This past March, Queens DA Chief Investigator Larry Festa, 64, also died of heart-related issues.
And a Bronx DA investigator recently suffered a stroke while helping out a witness.
Fleming contacted friend and retired NYPD Lt. Garrison Resnick, who is Mount Sinai Hospital's director of Outreach and Education.
The two came up with the pilot program, which was implemented under the hospital's executive board.
Ten investigators have participated so far.
The plan involves 24 doctors, according to Johanna Millea, the program manager for the hospital's Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
"If we can catch something significant and save a life, that's huge," Millea said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
DA union starts health plan as 5 city investigators die from stress
Dengan url
http://makananrasaenak.blogspot.com/2014/09/da-union-starts-health-plan-as-5-city.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
DA union starts health plan as 5 city investigators die from stress
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
DA union starts health plan as 5 city investigators die from stress
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar