PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Oren Barzilay, President of EMS Local 2507, on Increasing Ambulance Response Times
2:18:30
·
4 min
Oren Barzilay, President of EMS Local 2507, testified about the increasing ambulance response times in New York City and the need for more resources for EMS. He highlighted the record-setting number of medical emergencies in 2023 and the significant increase in response times over the past decade.
- Barzilay reported that EMS responded to 1,600,000 medical emergencies in 2023, a 40,000 increase from 2022.
- He stated that average response time for life-threatening calls has increased from 9.6 minutes ten years ago to 12.4 minutes now.
- Barzilay emphasized that the lack of funding, fewer units on the streets, and urban infrastructure changes are contributing to longer response times.
Oren Barzilay
2:18:30
You may begin.
2:18:36
Good morning.
2:18:37
Committed chairperson and honorable council members.
2:18:41
My name is Owen Bartolay.
2:18:42
I'm a 29 year veteran of FTNY EMS.
2:18:46
I am president of PMS Local 2507.
2:18:50
I am here today to speak on behalf of more than 4400 Uniform FTNY EMT's paramedics.
2:18:56
And fire inspectors.
2:19:00
New York CMTs And paramedics serve in the most renowned fire department in the country and the world's busiest medical first responders agencies.
2:19:11
My members at Task will respond to an incredibly large number of emergencies each year.
2:19:17
In 2023, EMS responded to 1,600,000 medical emergencies, another record setting year for the department.
2:19:26
And a nearly 40,000 increase from 2022.
2:19:31
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, responses by New York City's medical first responders are up 14%.
2:19:42
As emergency numbers continue to rise, so does the amount of time necessary to respond to them.
2:19:49
10 years ago, it took EMS members 9.6 minutes on average to get to a life threatening call.
2:19:56
The response time now is 12.4 minutes.
2:20:01
It is not surprising that medical response times are consistently going up.
2:20:06
It will continue to go up as funding to improve EMS is stagnant.
2:20:11
We have 11% fewer units on the streets to respond to priority calls.
2:20:17
With more and more bike lane, street closures, and speed cameras, which our members are forced to follow during emergencies, How does anyone expect response times to improve?
2:20:29
We saw a spike in EMS activity during the pandemic where we required additional resources.
2:20:37
We have returned to pre pandemic levels for our air Your
UNKNOWN
2:20:41
time has expired.
2:20:42
Thank you.
Oren Barzilay
2:20:43
But calls have not declined.
2:20:47
Our EMS chief is doing a great job but he is not giving the proper number of resources needed by the parental pushes of OMB.
2:20:56
People are dying every day due to their negligence, which is proven by the new cardiac arrest numbers release in the latest narrow management report.
2:21:07
It should be along 2 episodes and visitors of the city that if you go into cardiac arrest in our city, your survivability rate has dropped from 28% in 2023 to 20%.
2:21:19
We should be striving.
2:21:21
But that survival in number to go up and down.
2:21:25
In emergencies, minutes matter.
2:21:27
Multiple studies indicate that an extra minute or 2 can be a difference between life and death.
2:21:33
Today, you will hear from a drunk's resident, Tyler Weaver, a father who told me it took who told me it took EMS over 20 minutes to arrive and treat his son, Nicholas Castillo, who was not breathing.
2:21:49
His son has passed.
2:21:51
Cases like Nicholas are not want off occurrences.
2:21:56
O and B is costing people of lives if things don't change unless the city takes EMS seriously as an essential as an essential service we're witnessing a total collapse of the system.
2:22:08
As I stated before in an ABC interview, anyone suffering from cardiac arrest with a 12 minute response time.
2:22:15
You might as well take them to the morgue.
2:22:18
Our men and women do amazing heroic work every day.
2:22:22
However, we are stretched thin.
2:22:24
EMS headcounts are consistently fluctuating and regardless we don't have additional units and less available vehicles.
2:22:33
More resources and personnel are the only solution at this time.
2:22:37
This stats are reflection of OMD refusing to invest in EMS as they do to everything else in the city.
2:22:44
Thank you for your time.
