Restler questions Variale on survival rate decline and experience

I do.

Thank you so much.

Firstly, thank you all for your...

Compelling and impassioned testimony and your consistent forceful advocacy on behalf of your members it makes a real difference and we are all rooting hard for you to get these contracts done and to ensure that

EMTs are getting the wages that they deserve

I just wanted to drill down, President Varielli, on a statistic that you mentioned in your testimony on survival rates, that they had fallen from 35% to 16%.

Could you clarify the data points that you're referring to and from when to when have we seen this decline and what that means that the survival rate has declined so precipitously?

Sure.

So I got that from the mayor's management report that's in there.

The survival rate, I believe the highest was in 2019, was 37%, between 35% and 37%.

And the survival rate basically is the person, the patient was found dead, clinically dead, cardiac arrest or any other way, and then was revived by EMS and survived.

When they were treated, transported to the hospital.

From a height of 35%, as I put on the record, that survival rate has plummeted to 16%.

Now, some can say it's because the staffing isn't there, so we're not getting to the call quick enough, which is probably part of it.

But a lot of it also has to do with the lack of experience because many members have gone.

Members with experience have gone.

And where I get that from is there is a study that was done in Penn State that showed an increase in the survival rate whenever they had an EMT or paramedic with six or more years of experience.

They saw an increase.

Of 27% on the survival rate.

Now, to strengthen that study, there was a study done about 15 years ago, maybe more, in the FDNY

that showed whenever an EMS lieutenant was on the scene of a cardiac arrest, the survival rate of that cardiac arrest increased.

At first you think, well, why would that be?

It's not like they have to really supervise EMTs.

They know their job or paramedics or that matter.

It made sense.

The majority of EMTs and paramedics have less than, I think it's 75% have less than five years experience.

The majority of the officers have over seven years to 10 years experience.

So again, it strengthens the research that was done by Penn State saying, if you have more than six years of experience, the survival rate will increase.

And that's what that meant.

So by not having enough staffing, we can't get there on time.

By not having the experience, the veterans that we need, we can't save their life.

It certainly, I really appreciate you sharing that study and that and highlighting it.

It doesn't surprise me at all that somebody with more experience on the job is better at it, right?

As a council member, I'm better in year five.

Just by what some of my colleagues might say, than I think I was in year one.

I know that a teacher gets better in year five than he or she was in year one, and it really makes a difference.

So ensuring that we're retaining this workforce is critically important for the health and safety and well-being of New Yorkers.

But I still just want to drill down on this stat because it's so disturbing.

Just so I make sure I understand it, forgive my ignorance.

The survival rate, it refers to the number of people that have been revived.

Is that right from EMT showing up?