""We have quite a few members who are homeless - either living in shelters, sleeping in their cars, sleeping at the station, sleeping on a friend's couch," says Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, which represents most emergency medical technicians in the city."
""It's a daily slap in the face of responders who show up within minutes when New Yorkers have a bad fall, a heart attack, or a bleeding cut.""
""I worked overnight, so I worked from 6:30 to 6:30," Jasiah Canelo, a 23-year-old Astoria native, told me about his years as an EMT stationed in Washington Heights. "There's no elevators, so we would have a six-flight carry down, you know what I mean? That would happen eight or nine times a night.""
Emergency medical-services workers in New York City face abysmally low wages, starting at $39,000 and topping out at $59,000. This is significantly less than firefighters, who start at $54,000 and can earn $110,000 after five years. Many EMS workers experience homelessness despite their critical role in responding to emergencies. The disparity in pay is a daily insult to those who provide lifesaving services, highlighting the urgent need for wage increases to reflect their contributions and challenges.
Read at Intelligencer
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