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Date:         Thu, 28 Jan 1993 12:35:27 -0500
From:         Daniel Burstein <dannyb@PANIX.COM>
Subject:      transcript, ch 4 nyc-ems

@logo= DIIR

@volume= volume EJ      Thursday Jan 28, 1993

tv does an (ems) ride-a-long

WNBC-tv, channel 4, continued its coverage of issues facing NYC-
EMS.  In tonight's broadcast (Weds, 1/27/1993) they featured an
ems ride-a-long by reporter Dawn Fratangelo.
Transcript by Danny Burstein, usual disclaimers about spelling
and accuracy apply.

 Anchor Chuck Scarborough:  Tonight our "Focus 4" report zooms in
on the high speed heroes who do everything form delivering babies
to saving gunshot victims. They're the City's EMS ambulance
crews.   Dawn Fratangelo  is here to tell us that EMS technicians
are facing their own health crisis, one that comes from being
human.

 Dawn Fratangelo:  That's right Chuck, thanks. Dealing with New
Yorks emergencies can be overwhelming.  A recent study has found
that suicides among the City's EMS personnel are three times
higher than (in) the average population.  EMS workers believe
society dsoesn't understand the pressures they encounter.  SO to
get a better udnerstanding, we decided to ride along.

 EMS Lt. Kevin Haugh:  ANyone who can tell you they walk away, or
they're cold to what happens - they'd be lying to you.

 EMS tech Wayne Lynch:  I don't think suicide is an answer to anything,
but AI can see it building up to a climax such as that.

 Dawn Fratangelo:  Every day they deal with trauma and tragedy.
Emergency Medical Service workers are expected to dsave our
lives, but how do they save their own sanity from a daily dose of
death.

 Lt. Haugh:  Jobs that involve children seem to always hang onto me

 Wayne Lynch  It kinds of get to me, you know, that this might even one
day happen to my son.

 Lt. Haugh:  This year I had the first child out the window of the
season...

 Dawn Fratangelo:  It is just one of an estimated million calls a
year handled by New York's EMS, the busiest in teh country.  But
there's now evidence that close contact to carnage is taking its
toll.  Last year three EMS workers committed suicide, one of them
was the first to respond to the Central Park jogger victim.

 Georgia Witkin, (psychologist) : It's not surprising that any EMS worker
 commits suicide. An
EMS worker has to fail, by definition.  They can't be successful
all the time. Any (inaudible) business has a hit and miss rate.
When the miss is life and death, teh sense of responsibility and
guilt is very high.

 Dawn Fratangelo:  Incidents they find beyond them are ones which
involve multiple casualties, like LaGuardia (airport's) US AIR
crash, and the crushing deaths at CCNY (City College/NY),
incidents where EMS personnel have to make choices.

 Lt. Haugh:  They are very tough decisions, but that's what we're
paid to do. We're paid to help the patient who has the best
chance.

 Dawn Fratangelo (to xxx):  Can you talk to your wife about some of
the stress on the job?

 Wayne Lynch : Not really, she doesn't have an understanding of what the
job is.  Most people who don't do it don't have an understanding
of what we go through.

 Lt. Haugh:  We're dealing with death and destruction every day.
After awhile, you just... or people say well, nobody really
appreciates what I do.  the guy who picks up your garbage is
making more than I do to save your life.  I think it's a point
that hits home to a lot of people.

 Dawn Fratangelo, recapping :  And that's another factor that adds to the
stress. The average salary for EMS workers is only twenty-four
thousand dollars a year, far less than that for firefighters and
police officers.

 Dawn Fratangelo:  The system does now have a counseling group to
deal with pressures on the job.  It is helping, but still, if EMS
workers don't find their way into such a group, many know they
will burn out before they get help.  It's really a job where you
have to vent... If you're dealing with death or some kind of
emergency every day, the workers say, you just have to vent taht.

 Anchor Chuck Scarborough:  The City recognized the stress faced by
fire and police officers early on, but it took them a while to
recognize this stress, didn't it?

 Dawn Fratangelo:  It did.  It (also) took awhile for EMS workers
to organize also as a union. And the counseling group has been in
place for about two and a half years, but they're finding that
some of the workers aren't taking advantage of that.  You're in a
position of power when you're saving lives, (but) when you go to