Sophy Medina, NYC Firefighter
Sep. 15th, 2022 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
transcriberbNew York City Committees on Oversight and Investigations & Civil Service and Labor
Gail A. Brewer, Chair
September 9, 2022
https://councilnyc.viebit.com/player.php?hash=U2mDNKAEkDJA
Source:
https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/Calendar.aspx
[screenshot]
TRANSCRIPT
4:20:04
SOPHY MEDINA: Good afternoon. My name is Sophy Medina. I was born and raised here and have lived here my entire life except for my time in the marines. This is my family [points to husband and two children]. Tommy and I are firefighters on forced leave without pay because we didn't take a shot that proved to be useless at best and harmful at worst. Five firefighters are suddenly dead after the vaccine mandates and many others are quietly suffering with adverse reactions and they are afraid to speak up publicly.
We both worked throughout the worst of the pandemic. We worked without proper protective equipment and we both acquired natural immunity. We went from essential to expendable and no one seems to care, which is ironic if you remember the banging of the pots and pans at 7 PM every night.
My face was used many times by the FDNY to recruit and promote diversity by the FDNY. I was here in these chambers, I remember your face when I was testifying about the terrible treatment of certain women on this job. But since these mandates, and the FDNY's problem to recruit and retain women like myself, since the mandates we have been shunned from our place of work and from society in New York City.
But there were no vaccine mandates to ride the trains and buses where vaccinated and unvaccinated were side-by-side this whole time. Divisive messaging from the top down has relegated my family and I, and many others like me, to become second class citizens in our own city.
We've worked in public service our whole lives. Tommy in Sanitation before this, myself as a lifeguard as a teenager, a marine before, and a firefighter now.
Being a firefighter is not just a job for any of us. It's a vocation, truly a calling that takes a certain type of person who's both tough and compassionate. It's a dedication to serve when bad things happen, and to help people on their worst days and their most vulnerable moments. We've responded to victims of assault [time alarm sounds], I've translated between patients and advanced medical providers, and we've operated at fires with little regard for our own safety and lives.
TOMMY: She can take my two minutes over.
GALE A. BREWER: OK.
SOPHY MEDINA: Tommy has been twice decorated by the FDNY for going above and beyond at fires, one of them during he pandemic, no less. We've never asked anyone's vaccination status when providing help when called.
These mandates have taken away our ability to provide for our family. It is still impossible to find work in this city, even after the shift from the CDC.
The constant strain and pressure during this time has been really hard for my family and I.Years of hard work and saved money for our future have gone down the drain and will affect us on a generational level, as it's taking away from our children and their future, and it's taking away from our parents, who we've been preparing to care for in their golden years.
Our kids were forced out of their swimming classes and out of public school, since we won't subject them to participate in a system where their parents aren't allowed.
Instead of recognizing that our stance was indeed right, we are still being punished by the City of New York. Our religious exemptions were denied and our medical exemptions are being sat on by the very people who are supposed to be preserving and fighting for our rights.
There's no state of emergency. And the city is bleeding out money trying to recruit while many of us are out in the cold, wanting to work. And the city is losing valuable years of expertise. City jobs used to be coveted for providing job stability and now no one wants these jobs because they have witnessed the disrespect to all the city workers who chose to stand up for themselves.
Never forget that first responders were told the air was safe to breathe after 9/11, and never forget that we were told that this crap was safe and effective. And here we are now.
Thank you.
GALE W. BREWER: Thank you very much. And thank you to the family for being here.
4:24:01
[END]
# # #
Transcriber's notes:
You can listen to a podcast interview with Sophy Medina posted May 10, 2022 at
https://nooneyouknow.substack.com/p/new-york-mandate-podcast-ep-1-sophy#details
See also
https://www.bravestforchoice.org
> Transcriptions by Transcriber B (home page)
Gail A. Brewer, Chair
September 9, 2022
https://councilnyc.viebit.com/player.php?hash=U2mDNKAEkDJA
Source:
https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/Calendar.aspx
[screenshot]
TRANSCRIPT
4:20:04
SOPHY MEDINA: Good afternoon. My name is Sophy Medina. I was born and raised here and have lived here my entire life except for my time in the marines. This is my family [points to husband and two children]. Tommy and I are firefighters on forced leave without pay because we didn't take a shot that proved to be useless at best and harmful at worst. Five firefighters are suddenly dead after the vaccine mandates and many others are quietly suffering with adverse reactions and they are afraid to speak up publicly.
We both worked throughout the worst of the pandemic. We worked without proper protective equipment and we both acquired natural immunity. We went from essential to expendable and no one seems to care, which is ironic if you remember the banging of the pots and pans at 7 PM every night.
My face was used many times by the FDNY to recruit and promote diversity by the FDNY. I was here in these chambers, I remember your face when I was testifying about the terrible treatment of certain women on this job. But since these mandates, and the FDNY's problem to recruit and retain women like myself, since the mandates we have been shunned from our place of work and from society in New York City.
But there were no vaccine mandates to ride the trains and buses where vaccinated and unvaccinated were side-by-side this whole time. Divisive messaging from the top down has relegated my family and I, and many others like me, to become second class citizens in our own city.
We've worked in public service our whole lives. Tommy in Sanitation before this, myself as a lifeguard as a teenager, a marine before, and a firefighter now.
Being a firefighter is not just a job for any of us. It's a vocation, truly a calling that takes a certain type of person who's both tough and compassionate. It's a dedication to serve when bad things happen, and to help people on their worst days and their most vulnerable moments. We've responded to victims of assault [time alarm sounds], I've translated between patients and advanced medical providers, and we've operated at fires with little regard for our own safety and lives.
TOMMY: She can take my two minutes over.
GALE A. BREWER: OK.
SOPHY MEDINA: Tommy has been twice decorated by the FDNY for going above and beyond at fires, one of them during he pandemic, no less. We've never asked anyone's vaccination status when providing help when called.
These mandates have taken away our ability to provide for our family. It is still impossible to find work in this city, even after the shift from the CDC.
The constant strain and pressure during this time has been really hard for my family and I.Years of hard work and saved money for our future have gone down the drain and will affect us on a generational level, as it's taking away from our children and their future, and it's taking away from our parents, who we've been preparing to care for in their golden years.
Our kids were forced out of their swimming classes and out of public school, since we won't subject them to participate in a system where their parents aren't allowed.
Instead of recognizing that our stance was indeed right, we are still being punished by the City of New York. Our religious exemptions were denied and our medical exemptions are being sat on by the very people who are supposed to be preserving and fighting for our rights.
There's no state of emergency. And the city is bleeding out money trying to recruit while many of us are out in the cold, wanting to work. And the city is losing valuable years of expertise. City jobs used to be coveted for providing job stability and now no one wants these jobs because they have witnessed the disrespect to all the city workers who chose to stand up for themselves.
Never forget that first responders were told the air was safe to breathe after 9/11, and never forget that we were told that this crap was safe and effective. And here we are now.
Thank you.
GALE W. BREWER: Thank you very much. And thank you to the family for being here.
4:24:01
[END]
# # #
Transcriber's notes:
You can listen to a podcast interview with Sophy Medina posted May 10, 2022 at
https://nooneyouknow.substack.com/p/new-york-mandate-podcast-ep-1-sophy#details
See also
https://www.bravestforchoice.org
> Transcriptions by Transcriber B (home page)
