The Guardian: ‘It doesn’t feel worth it’: Covid-19 is pushing New York’s EMTs to the brink

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FDNY ambulance (Kristian Mollenborg)

I wrote for the Lost on the Frontline series of The Guardian about the sacrifices New York City’s EMTs and paramedics have made over the past year, and their demands for fair compensation.

In his 17 years as an emergency medical provider, Anthony Almojera thought he had seen it all. “Shootings, stabbings, people on fire, you name it,” he said. Then came Covid-19.

Before the pandemic, Almojera said it was normal to respond to one or two cardiac arrest calls a week; now he’s grown used to several each shift. One day last spring, responders took more than 6,500 calls – more than any day in his department’s history, including 9/11.

An emergency medical services (EMS) lieutenant and union leader with the New York fire department, Almojera said he has seen more death in the last year than in his previous decade of work. “We can’t possibly process the traumas, because we’re still in the trauma,” he said.

Read the full story at The Guardian.