Dead people don't squeak 

 To the editor:

Re: "EMS unions back ambulance delay disclosure bill. Seeks to highlight high call volume, understaffing," New York City Council Fire and Emergency Management Committee Chair Joann Ariola has proposed a bill requiring the city to send out emergency notifications when there aren't enough ambulances to answer all the 911 calls for medical assistance.

“If there are dozens of emergency calls sitting in a queue because there simply aren’t enough ambulances available to answer them, New Yorkers have a right to know,” Ariola said.  

The call backlog has reportedly been as high as 700.   

Meanwhile, at the June 10 Council hearing on the budget, FDNY EMS union leaders told council members, including Council Speaker Julie Menin, "Your constituents are dying."   

How much clearer could that message have been? 

Menin responded to FDNY EMS union officials, Michael Greco, Vincent Variale and Anthony Almojera saying: “The increased response times are unacceptable and the fact that the wages are unacceptable.  I can assure you that this is something that we care very deeply about and are going to go to the mat on.”

The following month, despite bringing on board fifty "mutual aid" ambulances to help the FDNY EMS answer 911 calls on five of the hottest and busiest days in July, paramedics with ambulances arrived in under six minutes for only 629 New Yorkers who were having life threatening medical emergencies. These include cardiac arrest, choking, stroke, anaphylactic shock, severe asthma attack, traumatic bodily injury, etc.     

 Another 3,454 callers to 911, in similar dire straits, waited longer than 20 minutes for them.   

The underlying message in this latest Council proposal might be that "the squeaky wheel gets oiled." 

 How much louder do the squeaks have to get? 

Helen Northmore