Stress test makes 88-year-old a Peace Bridge suspect

By JOHN MACKOWIAK

OBSERVER Staff Writer

and TIM LATSHAW

OBSERVER Assistant News Editor

Mary Jane Michalak, 88, proudly displays an autographed portrait of comedian Don Rickles in her living room. The autograph is personally addressed to her, “Grandma Roo” – as family and friends call her.

Michalak, a Dunkirk resident, has been a fan of Rickles since his early career, and she was sitting in the “best seat in the house” when the comedian recently performed at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Canada.

“It was a beautiful night, beautiful,” Michalak said, but she later added, “Well, we had a beautiful time until we were coming home.”

The casino hotel was very accommodating. She was able to play a few slots. Rickles made her laugh. It was a great night, Michalak said, until they came across a serious bump in the road on the drive home.

That bump in the road is better known as the Peace Bridge.

Michalak’s daughter, Beverly Slichta-Cusick, was driving toward the customs booth when authorities stopped her before she could pull all the way up. Also in the vehicle was Michalak’s granddaughter, Stacey Slichta.

“They made us sit there for about 15 minutes, then they led us up to the booth,” Slichta-Cusick said. “And they took our passports and her (Michalak’s) enhanced license, and that’s when they asked us about medical treatments.”

Michalak suffered a heart attack in February, and about a week prior to this trip to Niagara Falls, she underwent a stress test that involved nuclear material.

“They asked who was in the hospital, who had a stress test,” Michalak said. “It was me, and I had all that (nuclear residue) in me. The doctor thought that should only last two days. That was a week already, and I still had it in me.”

The border patrolmen asked Mary Jane, Beverly and Stacey to step out of the car and head over to the office.

“The distance from the parking area to the office was way too far for her to walk, and they had no accommodations,” Slichta-Cusick said.

“I wasn’t going to do it,” Michalak said. “I knew I couldn’t do it because I can hardly walk across the street.”

“They had no wheelchair or anything,” Slichta-Cusick said. “So, I refused to let her walk. … They finally let us pull up in front of the door, and she still had quite a long distance to walk. They put an undue strain on her, I think, medically, which is not a good idea.”

Mary Jane, Beverly and Stacey were detained for about an hour, including the 15 minutes they waited prior to approaching the booth, they said.

“It scared the heck out of us,” Michalak said.

“They were not disrespectful, nothing like that,” Slichta-Cusick said about Border Patrol. “They were indifferent.”

They sat and waited in the office, never receiving any information. Finally, they were cleared and allowed to leave. It wasn’t until 1 a.m. that Michalak was home safe in Dunkirk.

QUESTIONS RAISED

The event clearly raises some questions, but according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, it’s not uncommon.

“It happens every day, throughout the day, and that’s normally what it is,” said Greg Bennett, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol public affairs officer.

“They go through a system called the Radiation Portal Monitor,” Bennett said, “which the car will pass through, and that’s where the sensors will initially pick up any kind of radiological detection of any source of isotope. Then the person will be sent over to a secondary inspection, and the officers will use more equipment to actually identify the isotope the sensor is picking up on.”

Michalak had the stress test performed at Brooks Memorial Hospital. Teresa Larson, vice president of quality control at Brooks, said patients who are planning trips into other countries need to inform their doctors – or nuclear medical technicians – of their plans.

“If she (Michalak) told us she was going across the border,” Larson said, “then we would tell her, ‘This is what you need to know. Yes, you can still go, but yes, you’re going to be detected coming back. You’ll be screened.'”

Larson found it to be unusual that the nuclear residue was still present in Michalak a week after her stress test.

“For a stress test, I would expect most of it to be gone in 48 hours,” Larson said. “Some cancer treatments would last longer. Some cancer treatments remain in the body, if there was an implant or something. Maybe she didn’t have much left, but it might have been enough. Supposedly, the U.S. side’s sensors are very sensitive.”

Brooks will provide patients with a doctor’s note, if the hospital is aware that one is needed.

“If you’re planning trip and if you’re having a test,” Larson said, “tell your technician, tell your doctor, so that, one, we can explain to you, you might want to wait 48 hours, if not more. And, two, we’ll be able to provide them the note.”

Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Health, shared a document that the health department sent to licensees of medical-use radioactive materials across the state, back in 2008.

“Since it is not always possible to differentiate between licit and illicit sources of radiation,” the document reads, “there is a potential for an increased number of encounters between law enforcement personnel and such patients.

“We are requesting your help to assist individuals in these situations,” it continues, “by informing applicable patients of this potential situation and offering to provide them with written documentation to give to the law enforcement official in the event of a radiation alert.”

Having a doctor’s note can make crossing the border less painful for patients, Bennett said.

“If you know you’re going to cross the border,” he said, “and you know you’ve had some kind of medical testing done which involves nuclear medicine, by all means please bring the doctor’s note. And oftentimes a doctor will identify what type of medicine they’ve used on a person; that will help us identify the isotopes as well.”

A note will not provide a “free pass,” however. An inspection must still be conducted, Bennett said.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THE HANDICAPPED, ELDERLY

This event also raises concerns about whether or not the Peace Bridge Authority and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol are fully prepared for the handicapped and elderly.

A wheelchair would have eased the burden on Michalak, her daughter said.

There’s absolutely no reason why there should not have been a wheelchair present for Michalak and the others who have experienced similar events, said Diane Coleman, director of advocacy for the Center for Disability Rights, based in Rochester.

“It sounds wrong. It sounds like an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) violation,” Coleman said.

“Section 504 of the Rehab Act of 1973 and the ADA of 1990,” she elaborated, “both require recepients of federal funds, including federal government entities themselves – especially the feds because they’re covered by the older law – to provide reasonable accommodations, and a reasonable accommodation includes mobility assistance.”

If the authorities cannot provide the mobility assistance, or wheelchair, Coleman said, then they should not be forcing elderly or disabled people to do the walking.

“When you think about the number of seniors in the world today – getting out and about – it’s so offensive to think that someone would be put through that,” Coleman said.

Coleman whittled the issue down to its “simple reality.”

“The simple reality is that they need to comply with federal law on this point,” she said. “While they have the right to investigate anyone crossing the border, they need to do it in a way that meets the requirements of federal law, in terms of accesssiblity and reasonable accommodation.”