Each rescuer is required to keep social distancing and have their face covered by a mask. Many are not able to go home and hold their loved ones, kiss their kids or see their parents. Our first responders are not able to gather and comfort each other. Many of our members got very sick, some still fighting for their lives, some succumbed to the virus. There is a palpable fear of getting the virus, fear of spreading the virus and fear of bringing it home to our families. This virus brought personal isolation, immediate illness and fear, which made it much more difficult to handle. We were able to go home to our families, hug our children, gather together, support each other and cry together when necessary.ĬOVID-19 was an MCI that escalated for three weeks before we plateaued. We worked around the clock we knew what we had to do. We were left with the aftermath and we went to work. I can still see it and smell it when I go to the site. In addition to all the civilian lives lost, we also lost so many of our own that terrible day. 11, 2001, was a particularly tragic and very personal day. Over the last three decades, I have experienced many large-scale events each one has changed me a bit. This is by far the most challenging time in my career. As chief, how has this period in your career changed you? Would you put it on par with going through the events of Sept. Currently, we are still operating with many of these resources on the front lines. Our hospital-based partners staffed additional enhancement units, NYC volunteers were activated and we requested FEMA resources, which brought 350 additional ambulances and crews into this fight. When we started to see steadily increasing call volume, we requested supplemental resources from all of our EMS partners. At one point, 25% of our EMS workforce was out sick related to this virus. Chief Bonsignore: As you can imagine, a surge in call volume and a highly contagious virus is enough to stress any system.
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