Pulse first responders hail bill’s passage

Legislation will extend PTSD benefits, if OK’d

Ever since former Eatonville Police Officer Omar Delgado pulled survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre to safety, he has not had peace of mind.

Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, there are days when he doesn’t want to get out of bed, he said. But the toll hasn’t just been mental — it’s been financial, too. Delgado knew if he ever had to miss work because of the PTSD, he wouldn’t receive workers compensation because he doesn’t have a physical injury.

That will change if Gov. Rick Scott signs a bill approved unanimously by the Florida Legislature last week into law, as expected.

Three Central Florida first responders who were at the Pulse shooting in June 2016 that left 49 dead and injured dozens of others — Delgado, Orlando Police Officer Gerry Realin and Orlando Firefighter Josh Granada — were key in getting the legislation approved.

“I know that a lot of the first responders from the tragedy at Parkland are going to benefit.” State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando

The law will allow police officers, firefighters and paramedics to apply for workers comp if PTSD is triggered by seeing something particularly gruesome, such as the death of a child or the aftermath of a mass shooting. It will go into effect in October.

Delgado was let go from the department at the end of last year and is waiting for his pension payments. He won’t benefit from the new law but is still pleased with its passage. Realin and Granada also will not benefit because too much time has passed since the tragedy at Pulse.

“For a lot of my brothers in blue and every other first responder out there, it’s going to be a blessing,” he said. “It would have been amazing if I would have been able to take part in it, but the past is the past.”

Orange County Fire Rescue Chief Otto Drozd said the bill’s passage shows mental health issues among first responders are being recognized. First responders have a suicide rate five times higher than the general public.

Drozd said firefighters in the past have been hesitant to come forward with mental health issues because they knew if they were taken off the job, they wouldn’t get paid.

“Not only were they being emotionally wrecked, they were being financially wrecked as well,” Drozd said. “They’re experiencing PTSD symptoms, and they are not able to provide for their families.”

Attorney Geoffrey Bichler, who represents Realin, Delgado and Granada, said he realized the lack of financial options more than 20 years ago.

One of his clients was a Volusia County firefighter who was responding to a 1997 accident when a truck plowed through the scene, pinning him and a woman under a car. They were stuck for an hour, and she died.

Back then, medical benefits were not covered. In 2007, the Florida Legislature passed a law that allowed for first responders to receive them. But it didn’t go far enough, Bichler said.

Bichler has been waiting for a client who could show that first responders also should receive their salaries while receiving treatment for PTSD. Realin was that story. He was among the team of officers who pulled the bodies out of Pulse. He returned to work for about two weeks but had to withdraw after he was diagnosed with PTSD.

For a year, Realin received his salary from the city of Orlando, but it wasn’t something the city had to do under the law. He received an early retirement last year.

When the bill, SB 376, passed in the Florida House, he got a standing ovation from lawmakers. Realin’s wife, Jessica, called it a “very surreal and powerful moment.”

“I feel this bill is something that when they look back at their legislative career in 20 years, they will remember it as one of the best things they did,” she said.

A bill was introduced during last year’s session, but it never made it to a floor vote. Another bill was introduced, and Bichler helped organize the testimony of the families of firefighters who committed suicide.

Then, less than three weeks before the vote, the school shooting in Parkland happened.

“It just seemed to be kind of a perfect storm,” Bichler said. “At the end of the day [legislators] realized it was an issue. These first responders have to go to these mass shootings, [and] they see all these horrific things. They realized something had to change.”

The bill also requires preemployment screening of first responders for PTSD and training on mental health awareness, prevention, treatment and mitigation.

“It is a huge step in the right direction. I know that a lot of the first responders from the tragedy at Parkland are going to benefit, and they don’t know it yet,” said State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando.

The bill was the top legislative priority of Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis, who issued a statement thanking the legislature for its passage.

“First responders show up for us every day, without hesitation or questioning our politics,” he said. “Last year, four states, including Texas, increased mental health benefits for first responders. I’m proud we can now add Florida to that list.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.