A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $3.20 a month.
To the editor:
This year, 743 FDNY Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), paramedics, and EMS officers are applauded in the FDNY Medal Day Book. They restarted hundreds of New Yorkers' hearts that had suddenly stopped.
Each and every year, the FDNY's Medal Day Book honors hundreds of EMS first responders for doing the same thing, saving lives. That never changes. Neither does the city's otherwise persistent, shameful treatment of these women and men.
Each and every year, the city pays FDNY EMTs tens of thousands of dollars less than city sanitation workers. Regardless of their daily exposure to known, multiple occupational hazards, they are permitted fewer sick days with full pay than sanitation workers.
Each and every year it's impossible for NYC to hire and keep enough qualified people in EMS.
Each year that NYC fails to act, is one more year that the FDNY Emergency Medical Services is not sufficiently staffed to quickly respond to 911 calls for medical assistance.
According to official testimony at the June 1 NYC Council Budget Hearing, there were then 290 empty FDNY EMS positions.
As a logical consequence of the chronic EMS staffing shortfall, in May alone it took more than 20 minutes for ambulances with paramedics to arrive and treat 3,553 men, women and children, who had life-threatening medical emergencies.
That was 1,299 more such patients, who waited longer than 20 minutes for paramedics than one year prior, in May 2025; and the wait in May was too late for at least one.
NYC mourns 51 fire fatalities. But how many "medical emergency fatalities" could also be prevented, lives saved and outcomes improved, if FDNY EMS treatment arrived sooner?
The causes of the FDNY EMS' continual understaffing are known. Will the mayor and the City Council finally agree on a budget to prevent tragedies?
Helen Northmore
2 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
JTKerr
This is spot on. Let’s make sure the lack of EMS resources remains central to any public-safety discussion about saving lives. FDNY’s own performance data show that medical emergencies now represent the dominant emergency workload in New York City.
The Mayor and City Council should recognize that any serious public-safety agenda must treat FDNY EMS staffing, pay parity, ambulance availability, and response times as central—not secondary—issues.
If nothing changes, the next EMS system failure will not be a surprise. It will be the foreseeable result of continued inaction by the Mayor and the City Council.
Wednesday, June 10 Report this
Valete
"How many medical emergency fatalities are too many?” One—especially if it’s you!
Sunday, June 14 Report this