COVID19 Challenge More Dangerous Than 9-11

COVID19 is taking it’s toll on EMS responders around the country opposite of 9-11.

Per a CBS News Marketwatch article, many EMS responders are leaving the profession. Veteran emergency medical technicians and paramedics have spent decades intubating patients and performing many other medical procedures in cramped ambulances. Now, a growing number of EMS workers are exiting the field for good. The reason: COVID-19 makes the job too dangerous.

“I knew it would probably kill me if I went out there and had multiple exposures — and I’m not a chicken,” said Robert Baer, an EMT in New York City with 29 years on the job, including 23 as an instructor. “I love the job, but my doctors were telling me I shouldn’t be going in the field, that it was very dangerous.”

Baer was among the first responders to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and he now suffers from asthma, chronic bronchitis, sleep apnea and other conditions that make him more vulnerable to COVID-19.

COVID19

The new retirements due to COVID19 are a major departure from April when FDNY EMS was on the front lines of battling COVID19. How the virus effects recruitment and retention is yet to be seen lng term.