Sanchez asks about NYPD medical training and EMS morale

Second question, I probably won't have time for more, but just in terms of the quality of care that happens.

So if a police officers, we know they have basic emergency medical training, but they're not trained and equipped in the same level as EMTs and paramedics.

Is that correct?

And that is part of the issue, right?

We don't know what training they have or what care is being given.

And I'll pass it to Chief Miano.

So I do want to say that NYPD does routinely respond to EMS calls.

And it is sometimes based on...

Why we're being called, right?

If there is a fight or if it's due to a motor vehicle accident, right?

These are things that NYPD has to respond to.

They don't respond in place of us, but we are one emergency response service, whether it's fire, EMS, NPD, and we respond together.

And oftentimes NYPD is responding more for us, right?

To make sure that we're okay, to make sure that our members are safe while operating in an environment.

Thank you, Chief.

I understand that.

And thank you, Google, also told me as much.

But a 90-year-old man, senior, you know, who falls down two steps, hits his head, there is no threat to EMS there.

And so, you know, as a layperson, I'm understanding that NYPD is responding because they know that EMS will be delayed.

And so I think there's a very big question there to be answered, please.

You know, NYPD.

And yourselves, please follow up with us.

What is the training that they have?

And what is the training that they don't?

And I just want to be respectful of time.

I can send these in writing and continue the conversations with you all because my questions here are founded in a deep respect, appreciation, and even love for what our EMS are doing on the ground.

And, you know, I think everybody's repeating that we need to solve this problem.

But I guess I'll just close with how does this make EMS workers themselves feel?

How do paramedics feel knowing that NYPD does not have the training that they do, that others do not have the training that they do, but they are nonetheless being dispatched while EMS workers are so undervalued in our city?

I know that our EMTs and paramedics, I believe, are the best trained and best experienced that we have in this country.

They get out there and they do their jobs and they are very, very good at it.

I think that competitive.

That competitive spirit and that can-do spirit that we all have in the fire department is you want to be the one that goes there and does your job.

You don't want anybody else doing your job.

You want to get there and provide that help and save that life.

And that's, I think, what makes our people as good as they are.

Sorry, I don't believe that we believe that PD is responding in place of us.

I believe that we all feel that we complement each other, right?

Where if someone who has basic training, whether it's CFR or NYPD, can start care prior to our arrival, that's just an additional link in the chain of survival that the city is able to provide.

And that's why we do drills and we do joint training with NYPD, with the fire department, with EMS.

That's why we work together, because when the city is in crisis, those three agencies, well, two agencies, are the ones that are stepping up.

And we need to be able to work in harmony with each other and understand everyone's limitations and also what we bring to the table.