Queens Remembers – Five Years Later: Woodside 9/11 Memorial

For nearly four years, Debra O'Fee tried to get a memorial for her cousin, Tommy Ashton, who was one of 34 people who lived or worked in Woodside killed during September 11, 2001. Finally, after going through the long bureaucratic process, O'Fee along with Western Queens politicians, families and friends of the 34 residents who died five years ago, unveiled a memorial plaque on Saturday, September 9, at Woodside's Doughboy Park.
&#8220It was a great feeling that it is finally up,” said O'Fee, after she helped raise more than $27,000 through fundraisers and donations to honor her cousin, who was working his second day as an apprentice for Local 3 at the World Trade Center site when the attacks occurred. &#8220It was a really nice ceremony.”
The 5-foot by 6-foot bronze plaque lists alphabetically all 34 Woodsiders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and contains the following inscription:
&#8220On September 11, 2001, the following who lived or worked in Woodside, died in the World Trade Center attack. Their lives touched our hearts - their sacrifice changed us forever. We remember them with love and honor. Fill not your hearts with pain and sorrow, but remember me in every tomorrow. God Bless America.”
Congressmember Joseph Crowley and Assemblymembers Margaret Markey and Cathy Nolan joined Gioia and the community members to unveil the plaque after a mass at St. Sebastian's Church honoring those who lost their lives on September 11.

Ground Zero workers sick
BY ELIZABETH MORA-MASS
&#8220I feel very sick. I have gastritis, gastro-reflux disease; respiratory problems and my eyes and nose are always burning. Both my wife and I are in very poor condition,” lamented Ecuadorian Mauricio Avila, 34, an eight-year resident of Corona. Both husband and wife worked at Ground Zero for almost two years.
&#8220I can't work, I can't walk a block without dying,” said Elva Calle, Avila's wife, 32, mother of two children, a 10-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old boy, who is hyperactive and is being treated for anxiety problems. &#8220My little boy was born after my wife got sick,” said Avila.
&#8220Days later after the terrorist attack I went to work - cleaning up at the World Trade Center site because the government said the air was good,” said Ladislao Garca, 62. A Colombian who came to Corona in 1999 says he now has a chronic cough, gastritis and psychological problems. &#8220We are sick and the government lied to us,” said Mara Gil, 50, a Colombian, who lives in Jackson Heights and is sick with respiratory problems.
A study conducted by Mount Sinai Hospital released recently said that almost 70 percent of those who responded to Ground Zero had a new or worsened respiratory symptom that developed during or after their time working at the World Trade Center site.
Over the years, the volunteers, workers and first responders seen by doctors involved in the study have suffered from upper respiratory illnesses, like sinusitis, laryngitis, and vocal cord dysfunction; lower respiratory disorders, like asthma and World Trade Center cough.
In the cases of the Avilas, Garca and Gil, they worry that they are illegal aliens who have no papers. &#8220We have insurance. Aetna has been paying our medical bills at Mount Sinai Hospital. We (my wife and I) had no papers at that time (September 2001) but we were working with the Union Local 78, cleaning asbestos. We were licensed, and we had our equipment. We believed in the words of the government. For that reason we went to work,” said Avila.
&#8220The bosses gave us some paper masks and we went to work. Now, we are sick and everybody is cleaning their hands,” Gil said.
The Bush administration said it will continue to help sick 9/11 workers and has provided $75 million to cover the expenses. &#8220But what is going to happen to us after that money is gone?” Avila asked.

Cemetery Memorial Medallions
BY CHRISTINA SANTUCCI
&#8220The fifth anniversary of September 11th is approaching, and I'm writing this letter from all of us who love you so dearly and miss you terribly,” wrote Kitty Grinnell to her younger brother James Nelson. In her letter, Grinnell described Nelson's wife of 12 years, Roseann, and his daughters, Caitlin and Annie, who will soon turn 16 and is devastated that she will not be able to dance with her father during her birthday party.
Nelson was one of 37 Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officers who died on 9/11, and as of Friday, September 8, his loved ones are now able to read Grinnell's letter and picture Nelson's face every time they visit St. Michael's Cemetery in Astoria - literally.
His memory, along with those of his fellow PAPD officers who died at the World Trade Center five years ago, will exist now in a high-tech form - in a &#8220memory medallion.”
Invented in 1999 by Glenn Toothman, &#8220memorial medallions,” created by Memory Medallion Inc., are half-dollar-size, high-tech, weather-resistant silicon microchips, which can be scanned by PDAs, allowing visitors to see the photo and remembrances - up to 600 words - for loved ones onscreen using the hand-held devices.
About two weeks ago, construction of the memorial to the 37 PAPD officers was completed alongside a memorial constructed in 2002 for 76 Queens firefighters, which is also outfit with &#8220memorial medallions,” showing photos, bios, poems, and notes written to the firefighters.
In 2002, Memory Medallion Inc. donated the medallions - about $40,000 worth - for the 76 Queens firefighters killed on September 11, 2001, and this year local companies and several individuals contributed the estimated $15,000 cost to install the medallions.
The push to install the modern memorials came from former Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Deputy Chief Alexander Santora and his wife, Maureen, said Ed Horn, Director of Sales & Marketing at St. Michael's Cemetery.
The Santoras, whose son Christopher, 23, was believed to be the youngest firefighter killed, wanted all of the 76 Queens firefighters to be remembered.
&#8220What makes our son special were not his accomplishments,” Christopher's family wrote in the &#8220memory medallion.” &#8220What makes him special was his love for his family. Family was the most important thing to Christopher.”