Co-Workers Give Him the Gift of Time

Nick Moretta was at his Victorville home when his wife, Debi, slipped into a coma more than a year ago at a Fontana hospital where she was undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia.

And that’s what hurt, he said. “The one thing that eats me most is that I wasn’t there that night.”

To spend more time with his wife, who now is home, Moretta took time off from his job as an apparatus technician for Southern California Edison. But a few days off turned into weeks off, the weeks turned into months.

Moretta quickly exhausted his vacation days, but help came when some 300 co-workers donated their own vacation time to Moretta, supplying him with 2,532 hours of paid leave until late October.

“This is valuable time, time they could be spending with their own families,” the 43-year-old said, tears welling in his eyes. “A lot of people opened their hearts up to us.”

The idea originated with two supervisors who sent out a department-wide e-mail describing Morettas’ plight and asking co-workers to contribute vacation days.

The overwhelming response came mostly from people who did not know Moretta, said David Barstow, Moretta’s foreman and crew partner.

“Guys, over the years, don’t mind coming in and working an extra day,” he said. “Sometimes it’s all you can do for a friend. Sending flowers is nice, but what they really need is time with their family.”

A union agreement with the company allows individual workers to donate up to eight hours a year. Supervisors can give more, with the approval of their supervisor.

Edison officials said requests for vacation time donations are not unusual, though no companywide statistics are available. Barstow said he has seen about 10 such requests in the last 10 years. Union agreements in other industries also allow workers to donate vacation time, said Barbara Dab, spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. But, she added, it is unusual to spend more than a year at home on donated vacation time.

Edison employees want to donate still more time to Moretta and have talked to union representatives about it, said Barstow. But supervisors said they wanted him back on the job.

Supervisor Craig Henderson said he also worried that Moretta might have difficulty focusing.

“They work with 33,000 volts, so ... there can only be one thing on your mind -- the job at hand,” Henderson said.

For now, Nick Moretta rarely gets beyond his front porch and seems nervous when he does.

“He’s so afraid of not being there,” Barstow said. “We went to Mr. V’s for a cup of coffee. While we were talking, his kids kept calling. ‘Did you forget this? Did you forget that?’ ”

Once an active softball catcher and crafts hobbyist, Debi Moretta can kick her legs only very slightly and manage to say only occasional greetings. Relatives said she has come a long way since last spring, when doctors said she would not regain normal brain function.

The Morettas’ children, John, 16, and Kristina, 13, miss the conversations they had with their mother.

“I feel like I lost my best friend,” Kristina said. “We used to do everything together. Everywhere she’d go, I’d go.”

Nick Moretta said he was especially grateful to Casa Colina Hospital, which gave Debi, 43, free days of treatment.

But he added that the most frustrating part of Debi’s illness is dealing with their health-care provider, Kaiser Permanente. Every week, Moretta said, he is on the phone asking for more therapy and equipment.

He blames Kaiser for his wife’s condition and filed a malpractice claim with Kaiser’s Office of the Independent Administrator.

Kaiser Fontana spokeswoman Jennifer Resch-Silvestri would not comment directly on the Morettas’ claims, but said Kaiser has “spent a great deal of time trying to help Mr. Moretta understand his wife’s condition and ... will continue to try to answer his questions and address his concerns.” Resch-Silvestri added that Edison’s choice of benefits, however, limits the Morettas’ health-care coverage.

In the meantime, Moretta spends his days trying to build up his wife’s strength.

Although the leukemia is in remission, Moretta said he fears that it will return and his wife will be too weak for treatment.

Every day, he crushes pills into water, pours nutrition shakes into her food bag, bathes her, reads her Bible passages, stretches her legs, arms and hips, and helps her stand up for an hour in a metal frame.

“I’m not a physical therapist -- I’m a lineman,” he said, shrugging. “I need help. I want Debi to have what she needs.”