Workers complain of mold, mystery toxins

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Workers complain of mold, mystery toxins

Lower Hudson Journal news - West on,NY*

By Ben Rubin • The Journal News • June 22, 2008

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806220383

RAMAPO - On Gluckmann's last day at work at Rockland

Community College, she said, half her face went numb and started to

swell. Thinking she was having a stroke, she went to the emergency

room. After that episode, she couldn't get out of bed for two days,

she said.

Gluckmann, 39, of Mount Kisco was diagnosed with permanent health

problems, including brain damage, asthma, migraines and chemical

sensitivities. Her specialist, Dr. Szeinuk, stated her

condition was caused by mold exposure.

Although no mold was ever found there, she believed she was severely

affected by mold in her office at Brucker Hall, the college's 171-

year-old administrative building. She resigned from the college as

the international programs coordinator in February 2007 after four

years there.

" I'll never feel truly better, I'll never return to the person I was

before I went into that building, " she said.

But Gluckmann was not the only person who worked at Brucker Hall to

complain of environmental problems there. As of now, there are nine

pending workers' compensation claims against the college, including

Gluckmann's, for mold and unidentified toxin exposure.

An entire suite for six people, including two vice presidents, was

temporarily moved out of Brucker last month after employees there

complained of nausea and feeling ill, said Morton Meyers, the

college's vice president of finance and administration. The suite is

locked, with nearly all the furniture, files and family pictures

still inside.

A battery of environmental tests was taken in that second-floor

suite and in Gluckmann's first-floor office, but nothing out of the

ordinary was found, Meyers said. While touring Brucker this month,

it appeared there were no obvious air or structural issues with

either workspace.

" We do everything we are supposed to do in checking out the

environment, " said college President Cliff Wood, whose office is in

Brucker. " We certainly, as an employer, do everything we can to

provide an appropriate work environment. "

Meyers said the college continues to work on the problems at

Brucker, but it is stifled because environmental experts don't know

what caused the employees' sickness. Asked about mold issues, he

flatly stated that Brucker did not have a mold problem. Because of

her workers' compensation case, Meyers said he couldn't directly

discuss Gluckmann's situation.

The Rockland County Legislature's Multi-Services Committee has

scheduled a hearing Tuesday on employees' health problems at

Brucker, and one legislator already is considering the idea of

shuttering the building.

" I really think we can't say, 'We don't know what it is yet,' and

not move out employees, " said Legislator ph Meyers, D-Airmont.

The only incident in which mold was discovered recently was in a

purchasing office on the building's first floor and the employee

based there, Pereira-Jersey, was transferred to the college's

Fieldhouse, Meyers said.

Pereira-Jersey, a 46-year-old purchasing agent who's worked for the

college for 10 years, said she suffered from many of the same

ailments as Gluckmann, such as severe sinus problems, breathing

issues, wheezing, headaches, memory loss and fatigue.

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, most of those symptoms are consistent with mold

exposure, particularly for those with mold allergies.

" I think I had a sinus infection every month or every other month, "

said Pereira-Jersey, who has a pending workers compensation case. " I

feel like I have bricks on my chest all the time and problems

breathing. "

While college administrators said they did everything they could to

help employees, Gluckmann claimed she had to fight bitterly with

them just to get moved out of her office, where she said she was

exposed to mold for more than a year. She eventually was moved to

the new Technology Center, though her symptoms persisted, she said.

Gluckmann said she missed many days of work because she felt dizzy

or fatigued, or broke out in rashes. One day in 2006, she said her

office was filled with a potent stench that smelled like rotten eggs

and vinegar and she refused to work there.

She ultimately left her job after feeling like she had the flu for

seven full months.

" I feel angry because it was completely preventable. There's

absolutely no reason that I should've gotten sick there, " Gluckmann

said. " They didn't treat it, that's the point. That's why I'm sick. "

" It's completely unnecessary and completely irresponsible of this

institution, " she said.

Pereira-Jersey, on the other hand, said the college was responsive

when she complained about a moldy smell in her office. Like

Gluckmann, she too went to the emergency room and even wore a mask

to work for a few days.

Pereira-Jersey's old office - now kept locked - is still being

cleaned up, with the carpet partly torn up and a fan still by the

radiator where the mold was found.

In 2000, the college found mold in a basement stairwell in Brucker.

In that case, one employee was moved from the building and two

others complained of feeling sick.

After remediation and several tests, RCC officials reported a few

months later that mold was back down to normal levels.

Reach Ben Rubin at bfrubin@... or 845-578-2420.