FDNY Holds Annual Second Chance Ceremony
May 17, 2022
Ten Survivors to be Reunited with the Rescuers Who Saved Their Lives
In celebration of National EMS Week 2022, FDNY will hold its annual Second Chance Ceremony on Wednesday, May 18 at 10 a.m. at Liberty Warehouse – 260 Conover Street, Brooklyn. This special event will reunite ten patients, who have survived cardiac arrest, with the Paramedics, Emergency Medical Technicians, FDNY EMS Officers, Firefighters, Dispatchers, bystanders, and other first responders who helped save their lives. This event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and was last held in 2019, which marked the 25th anniversary of the event.
The 10 survivors include an 11-week pregnant mother from Manhattan who has since given birth to a healthy baby boy, a 7-year-old girl from the Bronx, and a New Jersey resident who survived his cardiac incident in Brooklyn and was able to attend his daughter’s wedding.
Several of this year’s survivors received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders before on-duty FDNY members arrived. Immediate CPR, coupled with defibrillation within the first few minutes after sudden cardiac arrest, can greatly increase a victim’s chance of survival. The FDNY CPR Training Unit offers free compressions only CPR training throughout the city and has trained more than 200,000 New Yorkers to perform bystander CPR, including more than 80,000 high school students. Though the COVID-19 pandemic created obstacles to hosting in-person trainings, the unit implemented a hybrid model to continue outreach through digital platforms, training more than 5,000 New Yorkers during the pandemic. For more information about free bystander CPR training from the FDNY, call 718-281-3888 or visit www.fdnysmart.org/cpr
WHO: Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh; Acting Chief of Department John Hodgens; Chief of EMS Lillian Bonsignore; Chief Medical Director Dr. Glenn Asaeda; 10 survivors, their families and the first responders who saved them
WHERE: Liberty Warehouse – 260 Conover Street, Brooklyn
WHEN: Wednesday, May 18 – 10 a.m.
PROGRAM: Second Chance Ceremony Program (PDF)
**PHOTO-OP & MEDIA AVAILABILITY**