Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958 or Dwight Williams (212) 788-2972
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen today officiated at a graduation ceremony for 73 emergency medical technicians of the FDNY Bureau of Emergency Medical Services. Today's graduates of the Trainee Orientation Program (TOP) are the first to graduate this year and represent the largest graduating class of emergency medical technicians since the 1996 merger of the Fire Department with EMS. Joining the Mayor and Fire Commissioner at today's Randalls Island ceremony were Joseph Casaburi, Chief of Department, Daniel Nigro, Chief of the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, and families and friends of the graduates.
"As an emergency medical technician, it will be your responsibility to respond quickly and effectively to life's most serious and unpredictable emergencies," Mayor Giuliani said. "On a regular basis, you will be the first on scene to handle the most devastating and tragic situations. Because of the training you received at the academy, I know that you will do so with the skill, bravery and compassion that has always been a hallmark of EMS.
These trademarks were apparent last week after the tragic helicopter crash in the East River, an accident that would have been far worse if not for the emergency medical care administered by the Emergency Medical Technicians on scene. Their response time was excellent and their care was superb. This is why EMTs have the respect and admiration of all New Yorkers. Continue to make them as proud of you as I am today."
"We welcome you as the newest members of our Fire Department family," Commissioner Von Essen said. "As each of you leaves here today for your first assignment as members of the Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, be sure to reflect back often on why you first chose to enter this noble profession. Each day you will be afforded an opportunity to apply the skills you have acquired and sharpened over the last 10 weeks of training."
On February 26, 1996, Mayor Giuliani signed legislation merging Emergency Medical Services with the Fire Department. This merger, coupled with the Certified First Responder- Defibrillation (CFR-D) program, where firefighters are trained in the skills of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, has created a seamless response system which has brought improved lifesaving pre-hospital care to New Yorkers. It has also placed New York City side-by-side with the vast majority of major U.S. cities that have gone to a Fire Department based EMS system utilizing trained firefighters as first responders to life threatening medical emergencies.
The Fire Department has been able to reduce EMS response time by nearly one minute in the first year of the merger by getting a greater percentage of EMS professionals back in the field, doing what they do best providing the highest quality pre-hospital care in the nation.
The Fire Department has been funded to proceed with the construction of 24 new ambulance stations that represent the first phase of the plan to establish ambulance stations throughout the City. As the largest emergency medical service in the world, the Bureau of Emergency Medical Service responds to 1.3 million calls per year.