More FDNY EMS Heroics (From JEMS Magazine)

FDNY paramedic Jake Dutton with bullet impact point on ambulance 57V3A.J. Heightman, Editor-in-Chief, JEMS, Steven Morelli, Deputy Chief, Division 5, FDNY EMS
20070612
2007 Jul 12
A.J. Heightman
FDNY EMS Crew Acts Heroic Under Fire
A.J. Heightman, Editor-in-Chief, JEMS, Steven Morelli, Deputy Chief, Division 5, FDNY EMS
2007 Jul 12
On Saturday, June 7, a Fire Department of New York (FDNY) ambulance crew, operating as paramedic unit 57V3, stopped to assist a driver involved in a motor vehicle collision they encountered while transporting another patient to a hospital. They ended up having to seek cover when threatened with a weapon by the vehicle’s driver. This same crew, minutes after being threatened by the gun-wielding driver, reversed their course and treated the perpetrator after he sustained mortal gunshot wounds in a gun battle with police. What follows is an accounting of the incident.

At about 2 p.m., the ambulance was transporting a 9-month-old female with seizures to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. While proceeding south on Albany Avenue, the crew encountered a car that had just struck a lamppost. The driver appeared to be injured and possibly trapped.

Paramedic Jacob Dutton, the driver, stopped the ambulance and proceeded to approach the car. As he closed in on the vehicle, the driver of the automobile raised a handgun and pointed it at Dutton’s face.

Dutton immediately retreated, running toward the rear of the ambulance. His partner, paramedic Joseph Fraiman, and their Northeastern University paramedic student observer, Duncan Regonini began to emerge from the rear doors of the ambulance. Dutton yelled for them to remain inside and continued running until he was behind the vehicle, out of sight of the armed driver.

When Dutton was safely behind the ambulance, Fraiman and Regonini questioned the integrity of the ambulance for bullets, so the entire crew, along with their patient and the patient’s parents, left the vehicle for the safety of a nearby delicatessen.

While this was occurring, members of the New York Police Department were arriving on the scene. As the FDNY crew entered the deli, an exchange of gunfire began. The crew then ushered their patient and her family, as well as the patrons and staff of the deli, toward the rear of the store for protection.

During the shooting, several teenagers appeared in front of the store, and the crew then redirected their efforts to getting the teenagers inside where they could also be protected.

After more than a minute of continuous gunfire, the scene grew quiet. The crew first ascertained from NYPD that the scene was secure and then left the deli to determine if there were any on-scene injuries. NYPD officers advised the crew that there were no police officers injured but the perpetrator was shot numerous times.

The crew of ambulance 57V3 began assessing the patient as other ambulances arrived on scene. Dutton stayed with the gunshot victim and Fraiman remained with the original patient along with Regonini. CPR was started, and C-Spine immobilization was performed as the pulseless and apneic patient was placed into FDNY ambulance 37W.

The gunshot victim was transported to Kings County Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Additional units on the scene removed the remaining patients and several police officers involved in the shooting. It was later determined that the initial involved ambulance (57V3) sustained damage from an errant bullet. The vehicle’s body was dented but not punctured. However, the bullet’s impact point on the left rear of the ambulance patient compartment was dangerously close to where the stretcher is positioned and just forward of the vehicle’s fuel port.

Immediately after all patients were removed from the incident location and the scene was secured by NYPD, 57V3’s crew was removed to the 77th Precinct to be interviewed by detectives and a district attorney. After their statements were taken, the crew members returned to their station, where they were interviewed by a member of the FDNY Counseling Services Unit and then sent home.

NYPD Sergeant Shawn Kelly commended the members of unit 57V3 for the outstanding job they did of ensuring their initial patient, co-workers, ambulance occupants and deli patrons were protected, and for providing an accurate accounting of the incident that was crucial to the investigation.

This incident demonstrates the inherent dangers EMS crews are confronted with on a daily basis, and the dedication, composure and professionalism FDNY crews and other EMS crews throughout the nation exhibit when confronted with dangerous and challenging circumstances.

EMS
UNITS

STAFF
INVOLVED

57V3

Jacob Dutton, EMT-P
Joseph Fraiman, EMT-P
Duncan Regonini, Northeastern University student

37W2

Joanne Lopez, EMT-P
Franer Genois, EMT-P

28Y2

Anne Sale, EMT-P
Daniel Rella, EMT-P

57W2

Steven Hornbrook, EMT-P
Mario Bastidas, EMT-P

C573

Lt. Vincent Variale

---

JEMS.com Editor’s Note: For a complete discussion on what constitutes patient abandonment, read the JEMS.com article “Patient Abandonment: What it Is—and Isn’t” by W. Ann Maggiore.


A.J. Heightman
Editor-in-chief of JEMS A.J. Heightman is a former EMS director and EMS operations director who has researched and specialized in MCI management training for 30 years. Contact him via e-mail at a.j.heightman@elsevier.com.

EMTS KICK UP STORM ON BOOTS

By MELISSA KLEIN
PETER CAPETANOS
They gave him a rash.Posted: 5:06 am
September 28, 2008

These boots are made for balking.

Eighteen city EMTs and paramedics who griped about having to wear new department-issued boots have been reassigned to desk jobs, the FDNY said.

The 8-inch-high, leather-and-fabric footwear was issued about a year ago but not until Sept. 8 ordered worn by anyone lacking a medical excuse.

"Any member who refuses to wear the boots is to be relieved of duty," reads an FDNY memo obtained by The Post.

The boots are part of a $1,300 ensemble of protective jackets, pants and gloves. But the jackets and pants are for such assignments as reporting to the scene of mass casualties, to keep blood and chemical contaminants out, while the heavy-duty boots are to be worn daily.

EMTs said the footwear has caused back pain, rashes, bleeding and even stress fractures.

The FDNY said it was awaiting delivery of possible alternatives.

By TOM LIDDY
CRAIG ROEDER Brave paramedic.Last updated: 9:52 am
September 26, 2008
Posted: 3:42 am
September 26, 2008

FDNY paramedic Craig Roeder tossed aside all thought of his own safety to crawl under a car that had flipped over on the Van Wyck Expressway and was hanging on a guardrail, leaving one teen trapped beneath the wreckage and another inside.

The Dodge Charger had careened into an embankment last Dec. 5, killing two youths and injuring three others. The twisted wreckage teetered precariously on the guardrail.

"At that point, there was no thought of it [his own safety] in my head," said the humble hero, who is assigned to Station 54 in Springfield Gardens, Queens.

Roeder, 34, first treated a teenager who was on the ground beneath the car, and dragged him to safety.

Then he noticed movement inside the car and realized there was another victim there.

Roeder sprang back into action, crawling through the shattered rear windshield, past two bodies, to reach the driver.

He went to work keeping the victim's breathing passage open and his neck immobilized as firefighters delicately cut away the twisted steel. Twenty minutes later, the driver and Roeder were freed.

Meanwhile, Roeder's partner, Kenneth Silas, had run up the embankment to treat a fifth victim, this one tossed from the vehicle.

"A job like that definitely sticks in your mind," Roeder said. "It's horrific because people died, but it's also rewarding because we were able to save people as well."

Roeder was nominated for a Post Liberty Medal in the Bravest category by the FDNY.


tom.liddy@nypost.com

2 NM hospital workers fired for taking photos

2 NM hospital workers fired for taking photos By HEATHER CLARK, Associated Press Writer
Mon Sep 22, 6:30 AM ET



Two University of New Mexico Hospital employees have been fired for using their cell phone cameras to take photos of patients receiving treatment and then posting the images to a social networking Web site.

Director of Public Affairs Sam Giammo said Sunday the photos — mainly close-ups of injuries being treated in the Albuquerque hospital's emergency room over the past few months — were posted on an employee's private MySpace page.

Giammo said he's never heard of a similar incident at the University of New Mexico Hospital or any other hospital.

A few other hospital employees were disciplined and the investigation is ongoing, he said.

UNMH values patient privacy "very, very highly and we will do everything we can to protect them," Giammo said. "We just won't tolerate unprofessional actions by any of our staff. We just won't stand for that."

The photos were discovered after a hospital supervisor received an anonymous tip about them Tuesday and launched an investigation.

Hospital managers personally oversaw the removal of the photos from the Web site and from the employees' cell phones, Giammo said.

"We have to rely on the people telling us that they don't have any others," he said.

The patients in the photos could not be notified that their pictures had been taken because their faces and personal identifying features had been removed from the photos, Giammo said.

Giammo said the MySpace page could only be accessed by the employee's online friends, not the general public.

Giammo said the employees who were fired violated a hospital policy that bans the use of cell phone cameras in patient areas. The other employees were disciplined for not bringing the photos to the attention of managers, he said.

The hospital is treating the matter as an employment issue and law enforcement has not been involved, Giammo said.

The use of cell phone cameras in hospitals have caused breaches of patient privacy or concern about such violations in California, Arizona and South Dakota in recent years.

FW: Andy Poliakoff from 17F3

 

 

 

FDNY HERO!

By KELLY MAGEE
BRAVEST: Fire Lt. Jim Congema rescued five members of one family in The Bronx.Posted: 4:31 am
September 19, 2008

Battling zero visibility and searing heat, FDNY Lt. James Congema single-handedly rescued three family members trapped in their Bronx apartment and helped save two others.

In the early-morning hours of March 23, 2007, Congema and two members of the forcible-entry team were first to arrive at the blazing, two-story building at 171 Unionport Road in Parkchester.

They made their way down a 30-foot, smoke-filled hallway, only to find the first-floor apartment door jammed. They broke through and found the first unconscious victim.

Congema, 40, and his fellow firefighters quickly located a second victim 10 feet away.

The other firefighters took them to safety while Congema got on his hands and knees and crawled deeper into the apartment.

He found two more unconscious victims and pulled them out.

Congema went back inside, past two rooms that had been completely engulfed in flames, to a second bedroom. He entered even though the windows were blocked by safety bars and might have trapped him had the flames spread.

"The last one was a young girl," Congema recalled. "After I found her in the bedroom I started the extrication myself." He carried her in his arms to safety just in the nick of time.

Congema's heroics helped save single dad Efrain Ramos Sr., 43, his son, Efrain Jr., 18, daughters Jennifer, 17, and Jessica, 10, and Ramos' brother, Carlos Beltran.

Congema lives on Long Island with wife Deanne and their three children, Emily, 3, Ashley, 16 months, and Andrew, 3 months.

"At the time you're thinking of the task at hand, what you're trained to do, and your instincts," he said. "After the fact, you think of your family right away."

"I feel great, it's rewarding to be involved in something like that," said Congema, who was nominated by the FDNY for a Liberty Medal in the Bravest category.

Photos from the field.

Late night @ Lincoln

10-13 Party for MOS in Need

 

Hero EMT slain in love triangle; girlfriend's ex sought
BY OREN YANIV, TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Monday, September 15th 2008, 7:57 AM


Jason Ruiz
A hero paramedic who once jumped onto the subway tracks to rescue a stricken woman was stabbed to death early Sunday, cops and relatives said.

Police have arrested the woman's enraged ex-boyfriend, Enrique Pizarro, 25, at about 11:30 p.m. Pizarro was charged with murder and possession of a weapon.

Jason Ruiz, 30, an FDNY emergency medical technician with a long record of bravery, answered a knock on the door of the woman's Sunset Park, Brooklyn, apartment about 1:30 a.m.

The woman's ex-boyfriend immediately started arguing with the pair and pulled a knife.

The suspect stabbed Ruiz, whose father is a retired police detective, twice in the chest and ran off, cops said.

"I heard the screams," said Mario Velazquez, 40, a neighbor. "When the [victim] screamed, somebody ran off."

Ruiz was taken to Lutheran Medical Center but died an hour after the stabbing, cops said.

"It was an unfortunate tragedy," said Ruiz's cousin Carlos Pantoja, 33.

Ruiz's girlfriend had been "harassed" by her ex-boyfriend recently, family members said. Cops said they knew the suspect's identity and were hunting him.

Ruiz, a paramedic for four years, was mourned by fellow emergency medical technicians as a fallen hero.

They hung his uniform at their office at Woodhull Hospital in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Flowers surrounded Ruiz's helmet. Candles sat by his overalls.

"He would do anything for anybody," said EMT Yvonne Aparicio, 30.

"The department is saddened by his loss," said FDNY spokesman Jim Long. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

In July, Ruiz was recognized for rescuing a woman who had suffered a seizure and fell onto the subway tracks at Marcy and Myrtle Aves in Brooklyn, Long said.

Ruiz and his partner, Juan Rios, jumped onto the tracks without waiting for the power to shut off, pulled the woman to safety and provided emergency care.

"He was the first one on the tracks doing what he was trained to do," said Rios, 27.

He was awarded a medal for "meritorious acts" in 2006 and 2007.

"He was very loyal," said the sister of Ruiz's girlfriend, who asked not to be named. "He was a good guy."

oyaniv@nydailynews.com

With Edgar Sandoval and Barry Paddock

EMS News



EMTs beat me up, says Bronx hospital security guard BY EDGAR SANDOVAL and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Tuesday, August 19th 2008, 12:24 AM [Photo]Lombard for News Hospital security guard Riza Sever A Bronx hospital security officer claimed he was worked over twice - first by two irate FDNY medics who beat him and then by his boss, who threatened to fire him. Riza Sever, 28, was working the night shift at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx on Thursday night when two FDNY EMTs came in with a patient on a stretcher. Sever said he and EMT John Rugen got into a shouting match about who was allowed in the emergency room. Sever said the situation turned ugly when Rugen cursed him out and shoved him. Rugen's partner, EMT Jay Yim, soon got into the fray, and started hitting him, Sever said. "I thought he was running to break it up," Sever said. "He hits me in a rapid succession, three or four times. I flew out of the double door of the ER." Another Bronx FDNY medic rushed over to break up the fight, he said. Fellow hospital security officers arrested both EMTs, but Sever's supervisor voided the arrests and threaten to fire Sever if he filed a complaint against the two. "They told me, 'How do we know you did not start the fight?'" Sever said. "I was just doing my job." Sever said FDNY brass grabbed all of the security video. "I would not expect anyone in uniform who also works for the city to treat me like this," he said. A hospital spokeswoman called the matter a "misunderstanding" and said the incident was under review. An FDNY spokesman said the two EMTs were not arrested, but declined to further comment. FDNY sources said the incident was handled at the hospital that night. Sever filed a police report yesterday at the 40th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx. About 15 fellow hospital officers went with Sever for support - since they said they got none from their administrators or their union. "It's like we are furniture to them," said hospital officer Maxie James, 30. "They can replace us and that's it." agendar@nydailynews.com Edwin Martinez

Story from NYPOST.COM from Edwin Martinez

Edwin thought you would find this story from NYPOST.COM interesting:

'EMT SLAYER' NABBED
By ALEX GINSBERG
A Brooklyn man who allegedly flew into a jealous rage when he caught his ex-girlfriend with her new EMT beau was arrested yesterday and charged with fatally stabbing the hero paramedic. Enrique Pizarro, 25, was awaiting arraignment yesterday on second-degree murder charges for the bloody confrontation outside the apartment of his former girlfriend on Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park. According to law-enforcement sources, Pizarro visited the woman's home early Sunday morning and ran into her new boyfriend, 30-year-old Jason Ruiz. In July, Ruiz, an FDNY paramedic, leapt onto the G train tracks at the Myrtle-Willoughby station to save a woman who had collapsed after a seizure.

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More than happy to make this our first post. Recognizing a job well done!