Does anybody have an update to the Lenox Hill Hospital EMS Paramedic Layoffs ?

Lenox Hill Hospital ended its paramedic service to the #UES and turned in its licenses. @micahkellner @billdeblasio

— Sarah Steiner (@Sarahgoat) January 14, 2013

911 ECTP Tech System Overwhelmed During Hurricane Sandy

WNBC reports that the 911 tech system is overwhelmed, that people are being discouraged from calling 911 unless it is truly a real emergency. This hurricane is doing a lot of damage. Would not all the damage taking place during a massive natural disaster be considered a real emergency (911 Call System Overloaded As City Urges People to Stay Off the Roads * DNAinfo New York)

Trees are falling, the façade of one building has collapsed, one fatality has been reported, and blackouts and massive floods have been widely reported. What isn't an emergency ?

Abdo Nahmod, EMS Chief, Won't Release EMS Statistics

Call New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at : (212) 564-7757 and ask her to demand that NYC EMS Chief Abdo Nahmod publicly release ambulance response and transit times for the Lower West Side of Manhattan. Ever since Speaker Quinn approved the Rudin family's billion dollar luxury condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's Hospital, the community has feared that it would take more time for ambulances to respond to 911 emergency calls and to transport sick or dying people to the nearest hospital. We need to know what the EMS statistics are now that St. Vincent's has been closed.

St. Vincent's Trauma Exercise

A Mass Civilian Trauma Exercise was held outside St. Vincent’s Hospital.

One of the participants at last night's "mass civilian trauma exercise" at St. Vincent' Hospital asked, "Where is Christine Quinn ?"

As part of the "mass civilian trauma exercise," many participants wore surgical masks and paper signs around their neck. The signs indicated what accidents, diseases, or emergencies they "have." Then, the "sick" participants "waited" for emergency medical treatment on the sidewalks outside St. Vincent's. No emergency help ever came, precisely because there is no longer a hospital in the Lower West Side. Some participants did not "make it." After the "mass civilian trauma exercise" came to an end, team of "survivors" marched to Grace Church, 86 Fourth Avenue, Tuttle Hall, to ask for help from Jason Mansfield, the chair of CB2's Environmental, Public Safety & Public Health Committee.