Last Updated

07 Aug 2005

Source: Palm Beach Post, May 25, 2005.

AMI employee who contracted anthrax ready to go back to old building

By Tania Valdemoro, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

WEST PALM BEACH — Ernesto Blanco (case 7) still reads his mail. He has good reason to be wary of it.

After sorting and delivering thousands of letters at American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, the now-77-year-old man, simply known as Ernie, became deathly ill from anthrax three years ago. Investigators believe anthrax powder packed in letters mailed to AMI sickened Blanco and photo editor Bob Stevens (case 5). The inhaled anthrax killed Stevens.

Blanco checked into Cedars Medical Center in Miami on Oct. 1, 2001, at the insistence of his wife, Elda. He stayed there for 23 days. Tubes drained fluid from his lungs. He struggled to sleep many nights. There were times when he felt as though he was falling down a cliff. Still, he recovered and four months later returned to work part time.

"I think that in all this, I have participated in the will of God," he said of his survival.

After the anthrax cleanup at the former AMI building concludes in the coming weeks, Blanco will be one of the first people to reenter his former workplace, once the headquarters of the publisher of supermarket tabloids such as The National Enquirer and Sun.

"I suffered more than anybody, but I'm ready to go back," he said.

He understands why other people are reluctant to do so but predicts they will change their minds.

Still, the unsolved mystery of the anthrax attacks and who perpetuated them frustrates Blanco.

"I want to see people brought to justice," he said.

In all other respects, life has returned to normal. He said his health is good, although he sees the doctor more often now because of his age.

He still walks his dogs, Papito, Pedrito and Gordo, every morning. Then he catches a ride on Tri-Rail from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton. After a short bus ride to the AMI's new offices, Blanco gathers packages in the mailroom. He said he puts in a good eight hours of work without complaint.

"Ernie has been the same dedicated employee he has always been," said Dan Rotstein, the company's senior vice president of human resources. "He tries his very best to accomplish all that we ask him to do."

In 2001, Rotstein made the "miracle call" to doctors and nurses at Cedars, informing them Ernie worked with Stevens, who earlier had been diagnosed with inhalation anthrax.

After work, Blanco returns home, walks the dogs again and then putters around the house. Whether that means fixing the plumbing or mowing the lawn, he's always moving.

"I never stop," he explained. "I enjoy it. It makes me feel useful."

Other things in Blanco's life have changed.

He and his wife moved from North Miami to West Palm Beach last year to take care of his brother-in-law, Ricardo Guerrero.

"Ricardo started losing his appetite and his mind. He could not talk or move," Blanco said. Guerrero died three months ago from Alzheimer's.

And Blanco's job is slightly different now. The U.S. Postal Service scans mail sent to AMI for chemicals before it is delivered. He wears gloves and a mask while handling mail.

Retirement has crossed Blanco's mind.

"I want to enjoy my life," he said. "In a few months, I will decide what to do."

He started working when he was 15 years old in Cuba. His first job was at the newspaper Gazette Oficial in Havana. He later came to America and settled in North Miami, where he held a series of jobs, including his own carpet business.

Carpet installation was not what his wife wanted him to do as a 60-year-old man. So she plotted with her cousin, who snagged Blanco a mailroom job at Globe Communication, a Boca Raton-based company AMI later acquired.

"It was an accident," he said, referring to the AMI job. "I never asked for it."