From John Lind - USA:
‘The Aerotoxic Casualty
We are faced with a Health Crisis. The World Health Organization wonders that it might be a Public Health Crisis. This Crisis occurs daily among a unique group of employees, ladies and gentlemen, who greet you with a smile and assure of a happy journey. They serve your immediate needs while under their care and constantly provide for your comfort and safety.
These employees are our new “Canaries in the Mine”.
These are the flight attendants and pilots of today’s airlines.
Tammi Fitzgerald was a flight attendant repeatedly injured and disabled on the job. Her needs:
1. Funds for access to medical help.
2. Funds to avoid homelessness.
My name is John Lind. Retired, formerly a pilot with safety experience and risk management credentials. Airline workers compensation is my specialty. My own daughter is a flight attendant who has had similar experiences. I am managing the campaign for Tammi and the story is a long one. But for today . . . .
. . . . This is Tammi’s story!’
“Living the dream of flying in the clean, clear blue skies, then waking up to the nightmare of disabling illness. How now to cope when my dedication to a special kind of public service has left me disabled, un-indemnified, and facing homelessness.
What better place to work than in a clean, environmentally controlled aircraft cabin high above the daily hubbub of cities and suburbs. For ten years I lived my dream experiencing the world as have few others. Fast paced, pure, exciting adventure.
On 24 October 2010, after years of unblemished service and good health, my health began to slip gradually and insidiously into decline. My life began to change that day and I haven’t been the same since.
A strange, acrid odor filled the cabin during climb. Another flight attendant and I became quite ill. The captain confirmed the problem – toxic fumes from the pressurized and conditioned air passing through the aircraft cabin and flight deck.
By 2018, after repeated “fume events” and long term exposure to a mix of chemicals including organophosphates, carbon monoxide (carboxyhemoglobin), and nitrogen compounds (methemoglobinemia), plus serious allergic reaction to company-provided work uniforms that also affected more than 5,000 employees, I am now seriously and possibly permanently disabled with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, a compromised upper respiratory tract, and reactive airway disease. My immune system protection is seriously diminished. I was forced by my employer to retire medically without workers compensation, health insurance, or other forms of financial help. My savings are exhausted. Homelessness looms.
Survival depends on being able to pay for health insurance and living expenses until I can recover enough to be a dependable employee in a job that will no longer damage my health.
I will supplement costs with earned income as I hope gradually to become more able to do.
Many other flight attendants and pilots at all airlines suffer similar, unindemnified, work-related injuries and illnesses. Passengers such as “frequent flyers” could also be affected, but we don’t know who they are and they are unaware of the cause of their illness. Contributions that exceed my needs will be offered other ill crewmembers and passengers according to need.”
The US $2.00 Appeal:
If everyone who has signed this petition could contribute the small amount of US $2.00 each, we could not only help Tammi keep a roof over her head and enable her to pay for her medical care, we could help many others in the same situation - who have been forced to retire/leave their employment as crew by their employers (Airlines), due to the illnesses caused by contaminated air in the aircraft they worked on. There is no support when you are suffering from a condition that remains unrecognised - Aerotoxic Syndrome.