Relates to staffing standards for employees performing emergency medical services in the 911 system in a city with a population of over one million people

• Democratic6

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Robert Jackson says this is needed

Public Health Law Section 3005-a specifies minimum staffing services for ambulance units that respond to calls for emergency medical services in the State. The minimum levels specified are the same for communities with few residents and embryonic emergency medical services as they are for communities with highly sophisticated emergency medical services systems and complex demographic issues. The law should be updated to ensure that the provision of services in those more complex environments corresponds to the reality of service needs there. The current law spec- ifies that the minimum staffing level of EMS units is limited to a single responder. In fact, in more complex environments like New York City, standard protocol calls for ambulances to be staffed with two responders.Section 3005-a is just not consonant with the standard proto- cols in effect there. This bill would mandate that EMS units responding to calls for 911 emer- gency medical services in cities with more than a million persons be staffed by two qualified responders - two EMTs, two Advanced EMTs (i.e., Paramedics), or a supervisor with another who is an EMT of Advanced EMT (i.e., Paramedics).This is necessary not only for the provision of need- ed medical services, but also for the safety and security of the respon- ders. On October 7, 2022, FDNY Lieutenant Allison Russo, a Supervisor Paramed- ic, was brutally murdered while she was on duty. Lt. Russo was in uniform when her attacker fatally stabbed her multiple times in the neck and chest. She was working alone and was waiting for roadside assistance to come and repair her FDNY vehicle. While she waited, a civilian told her there was someone having a medical emergency. She responded to investigate the report when the murderer walked up to her and ended her life. While EMTs and Paramedics in New York City's FDNY work with part- ners, Supervisors generally do not.Yet, they are subject to the same incredibly difficult working conditions and the same serious dangers that EMTs and Paramedics face. This bill would ensure that the current protocol for staffing levels for 911 EMT and Paramedic ambulances - two responders in each ambulance - is not eroded; and it would ensure that Supervisors working in 911 EMS vehicles work in teams just as EMTs and Paramedics do. For all these reasons, the bill is a just and equitable measure and should be enacted.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.