Ariola asks about two-paramedic staffing and fire company scene time

Yes, in many ways.

And I will say it again.

It begins with a living wage for EMS and paramedics, because then we will not have a retention problem.

We will not have a nutrition problem, and they will be getting paid.

To compensate them for the job that they do because they are saving lives.

They don't even have, and most people don't know this, they don't even have uniformed first responder status.

They're categorized as civilians.

So we need to really sit, and we will hear from the unions later, but I know that I've asked for FDNY to leave someone behind, and I know that the mayor's office is here,

a representative, because that is an area where really, if we can fix that,

We can then work on all the other problems, and we need to do that right away.

Does the fire department believe that two paramedics are needed for ALS?

And if so,

So who's driving the ambulance?

So two paramedics are needed to provide effective advanced life support care.

In our training, right, we train as a team.

We don't train as individuals.

As an RN, as a nurse, you know that prior to the delivery of medication, I don't just look at that medication.

My partner has to look at that medication, confirm I'm giving the correct medication, confirm the dose is correct, confirm the route is correct.

So that is why two people with the same level of care need to be in the back of an ambulance and treating patients with life-threatening emergencies.

So in situations where both paramedics need to be in the back of an ambulance, a BLS ambulance does respond, and they drive that vehicle, both vehicles, while the two paramedics are operating in the back.

Okay, and just to round out, would one EMT and one paramedic be able to provide the needed care?

And does the FDMY believe that fire companies should stay on scene for non-acute calls?

I'll take the first part of it.

And there are extreme situations where we have multiple patients, right, on the scene, and we need to split up.

We need to divide and conquer.

We do duplicate the amount of equipment on an ambulance so two paramedics can handle two patients.

And, you know, in those situations or in a fire or a bad car accident or even an incident, maybe it's a carbon monoxide incident.

in a home where there's multiple patients who are unresponsive, we will divide both of those two paramedics up so they can operate.

But it is not optimal to operate as a sole paramedic in the back of an ambulance.

But with staffing so low,

I think that's something that you should do since it was done during COVID and it can be done.

We are in a state of emergency right now with ambulances, and that's why we spoke about, we had a meeting with the mayor's office about mutual aid, about bringing everybody off the desk and into the ambulances.

So in a state of emergency, I think that that might be something you'd want to look at.

Chair, respectfully, I don't know who advised that we did that during COVID, but that was not a step that we took during COVID.

It may have been on our...

You know, our list of considerations, but it was not something that we transitioned to during COVID.

Okay, thank you for the clarification.

And to your question about the point of a fire company staying with the patient, we believe that when there's a patient that needs an ambulance, we have to stay with them to ensure that they don't get any worse.

Thank you.

I yield now to Chair Narcisse.