De Blasio to bolster funding to cut ambulance response times
The New York City Fire Department will receive additional funding in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s upcoming budget to increase staffing in hopes of shaving precious seconds off ambulance response times to medical emergencies, city officials said Sunday.
City officials told The Associated Press on Sunday — a day before de Blasio was set to present his budget — that the increase in funds will allow the fire department to staff 45 additional ambulance shifts and employ 149 additional Emergency Medical Service dispatchers. The proposal comes on the heels of the busiest year ever for EMS, whose responders answered 1.3 million emergency calls in 2014.
“This investment will go a long way toward improving response time, ensuring that our first responders can do their jobs as effectively as possible, and potentially saving lives in communities around the city,” the mayor said in a statement.