Our EMS workers deserve better
I, along with my colleagues in the Assembly Minority Conference, sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo and Dr. Howard Zucker, the NYS Department of Health Commissioner, to request an imminent certification issue for hundreds of EMT and paramedic graduates be addressed immediately.
The state of emergency allowed residents wanting to serve as EMTs or paramedics during COVID-19 to have an easier process by requiring only one test — either a state or national exam. However, with the ending of the emergency order by Gov. Cuomo in June, hundreds are now left in limbo waiting to be certified after taking the national exam. As a result, these first responders are unable to work until the issue is resolved.
This can be fixed easily by state health officials, with no legislation needed. It’s vital that our state health officials get to work on correcting this issue to relieve the stress that many EMS departments are facing due to staffing shortages and allow our first responders to get to work helping our community.
As New York faces a statewide shortage of ambulance services, the last thing our state government should be doing is restricting access to new graduates to be able to serve their communities. Instead, we should be streamlining the process and incentivizing our neighbors to join EMT and paramedic programs. We can’t continue to allow critical services like these fall through the cracks.
These live-saving services are paramount to our communities. Our EMT and paramedics save lives and we desperately need them out of limbo and in the field to help our residents in need. I thank all my colleagues for joining me in raising our concerns on this critical problem and for Saratoga County EMS Coordinator Mike McEvoy for bringing this critical issue to my attention. I can only hope that state officials will get to work immediately on solving the certification issue and allow EMTs to be certified under both tests.
Assemblywoman Walsh represents the 112th Assembly District, which consists of parts of Saratoga and Schenectady counties. For more information, please visit Assemblywoman Walsh’s Official Website.