2 Black women make history

Rise to division chiefs in city EMS, looking to motivate & inspire others

Tonya Boyd, the FDNY’s first Black female deputy chief, likes to regale young emergency medical technicians with stories about what the job was like when she started 25 years ago.

There were no motorized stretchers to absorb the weight of heavy patients. There was no equipment to protect EMTs if they were caught in a fire.

There were also no Black women with the title of deputy chief.

Boyd, 53, changed all that in 2017 when she became the first African-American woman in the FDNY to achieve the rank. She will make New York City history again on Friday when she and another deputy chief become the first Black women to become division chiefs within the EMS command.

“It’s something I look forward to,” Boyd (left) said. “The best part of the job is just motivating and inspiring members.”

Joining Boyd in the new role is Cheryl Middleton, who achieved the deputy chief rank a year after Boyd.

Boyd and Middleton will be officially appointed as division chiefs during a promotion ceremony at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island.

Fittingly, they will receive the honor from Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, who is the first woman to lead the FDNY since its inception in 1865.

Middleton (right), who has spent 33 years with EMS, dating back to before it merged with the FDNY, said she is humbled by the appointment.

“It’s very special, and it’s not just for me,” Middleton said. “Since my promotion was announced so many people are telling me how proud they are of me. They tell me I’m a role model and they look up to me. But it’s not enough to make the news and reach the rank. I have to represent.”

Middleton, 57, said she is also proud of her role in a new department initiative that teams EMTs with social workers to respond to mental health emergencies.

The program — launched with two teams in Harlem and one in the South Bronx — was designed to lighten the load for police officers and hospital emergency room workers while responding more efficiently to mental health emergencies.

Not lost on Boyd or Middleton are the dangers inherent with the job. They both rose up the ranks from 9/11 through the pandemic, and both had leadership roles when EMS lost one of its own under the wheels of her ambulance.

Boyd said the death in 2017 of Yadira Arroyo, who was crushed when a career criminal got behind the wheel of the vehicle and ran her down, really hit hard.

“It’s a dark moment every time we lose a member,” Boyd said. “It’s important that we stay together and remember what the job is.”

Two days before their promotion, not far from the site of the ceremony, an EMT was shot by a patient in an ambulance on the way to Staten Island’s Richmond University Medical Center.

In the best and worst of times, Middleton says she manages to stay grounded. She said she starts each day with a prayer and a Bible verse.

“It starts my day and keeps me focused,” Middleton said. “When stuff gets tough and I get overwhelmed, I have to remember I have the tools I need to be successful.”