Tricia Moses

"Throughout my long wait for a lung transplant and my continuing struggle with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that forced me to retire, the UFT has given me nonstop care and support..."

By #UnionProud Stories

May 24^th, 2016

by tricia moses

Throughout my long wait for a lung transplant and my continuing struggle with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that forced me to retire, the UFT has given me nonstop care and support. The union has been and is always just a phone call away for counseling and expediting endless paperwork.

It was hard to retire and leave PS 233 in East Flatbush where my colleagues have been so supportive and where I taught special education for the last 10 years of my 13-year teaching career. Chapter Leader Gail Ericson was my Moses and continues to be even now.

When I explained to my 3rd-graders why I was attached to an oxygen tank and how it worked during my last year in the classroom in 2013, they became my strongest supporters. So when they were facing standardized tests that April, I came back from the hospital because I didn’t want them to be nervous.

I finally got the lung transplant I needed in June 2014, but I continue to face health issues related to the autoimmune disease. And because of the medications I’m on for kidney complications, my brain is not always what I want it to be so it’s very reassuring to know the UFT is there. The stress of paperwork and the constant worry of getting bills paid seem overwhelming at times. That was especially the case during the health-insurance coverage gap of three months following retirement and before Medicaid kicked in.

Now I’m back and forth to the hospital and to doctor’s visits and taking life day by day, but with the peace of mind the union has made possible.

Tricia Moses is a Brooklyn teacher who was forced to retire for health reasons.

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Photo by Jonathan Fickies

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Shalca Nelson

Tricia Moses

"Throughout my long wait for a lung transplant and my continuing struggle with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that forced me to retire, the UFT has given me nonstop care and support..."

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