EMS workers could get added protections

EMS workers in the city will no longer have to respond to emergency calls alone, according to legislation named after an FDNY EMS officer who was fatally stabbed in the line of duty and passed by state lawmakers last week.

The Alison Russo EMT Supervisor Staffing Act ensures that no EMS provider in a city of more than one million people in New York State travels solo to the scene of an emergency. The bill, named for Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, a 24-year FDNY veteran who was killed in September 2022, would close a loophole that allows EMS workers and officers to be dispatched without a partner. 

Unions representing EMS workers said an update to the state’s health code was necessary to protect both EMS workers and the New Yorkers they’re treating. Anthony Almojera, a lieutenant paramedic who was friends with Russo-Elling, said the legislation’s approval was bittersweet because although the bill passed largely because of Russo’s death, she will be “eternally remembered as the person who provided safety for EMS officers.” 

“It means everything to finally get aid for the only 9-1-1 responders who ride solo,” he said. “To have someone watching my back on the scene to help with situations, it just brings me extra comfort.” 

Almojera, vice president of District Council Local 3621, the EMS officer's union, predicts that the city will have to more than double the number of EMS lieutenants on staff to comply with the legislation, which awaits Governor Hochul’s signature. He argued that the increase in staffing is needed because burned-out lieutenants have been leaving the force — including three this week, he said — due to the increasing call volume. 

Russo-Elling, a first responder to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center, was ambushed by Queens resident Peter Zisopoulos about a block and half from her station house in Astoria while she was walking to investigate a call for help. Russo-Elling was without a partner that day, and union leaders say that the support of a colleague could have saved her life.  

In the wake of Russo-Elling's death, the City Council passed and Mayor Eric Adams signed two bills mandating that the FDNY provide every EMS worker with body armor and training in both self-defense and de-escalation. There were 187 physical assaults of FDNY EMS members by their patients in 2023 and 258 in 2024, according to the FDNY.

Zisopoulos, 37, was convicted on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon last month. He could receive a sentence of 25 years to life later this month, prosecutors said. 

Oren Barzilay, the president of Local 2507, which represents paramedics, EMTs and fire protection inspectors, said the bill was “long overdue” and another “monumental achievement” for both EMS unions. 

“Our number one priority is the health and safety of our men and women,” he said. “Hopefully they do the right thing, and it gets signed into law.” 

Both union leaders claimed the bill faced opposition from Mayor Eric Adams. Representatives for City Hall, they said, pushed for a two-year delay in the implementation of the increased staffing provisions to give the city time to increase staffing and to lessen any blow on taxpayers. The legislation, though, notes that there are no state or local fiscal implications tied to the bill. 

A City Hall spokesperson didn't answer a question on whether the administration was lobbying to delay the bill's provisions, saying in a statement that Adams "is dedicated to protecting our city’s EMS professionals, who save New Yorkers’ lives every single day."

"While this bill as it stands would reduce the ambulances in service and be nearly impossible to implement, our administration continues to work with our city and state partners to find new ways to hire more EMS professionals and keep them safe on the job," the spokesperson added.

The bill named after Russo-Elling, who was posthumously promoted to captain, was sponsored by State Senator Robert Jackson, chair of the committee of Civil Service and Pensions, and Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato.

Jackson said in a statement that Russo’s death was a tragedy and a “failure of policy.” With the bill’s passage, he said, lawmakers were “closing a dangerous and indefensible gap in our public health infrastructure — and honoring the life of a public servant who should still be with us today.” 

“This is about far more than adjusting staffing standards — it is about affirming the value of life, honoring labor, and acknowledging unequivocally that our emergency medical responders are indispensable, never disposable,” Jackson said. “This bill affirms that their work is not a line item, but a lifeline—and that the law must reflect the lived reality of their service: the urgency, the intensity, and the risk.” 

A spokesperson for Hochul said the governor would review the legislation.

dfreeman@thechiefleader.com