Street Medics _ NYC

I spoke to a long-range reconnaissance military vet, an EMT who helped load morgue trucks with COVID-19 victims, and a veterinarian. With specialties from trauma, medical, and animals; these volunteer street medics provide a valuable service to protestors occupying city hall. “I come rigged for most traumas, I can deal with anything from an abrasion from someone falling off of their bike up to multiple gunshot wounds.” Said the combat vet. He shared a guiding principle from his military training– rule 303; “It essentially means that if you have the ability to do something but not necessarily the authority, you still have to act. And so, I feel obligated to be out here because I know that I can make a difference.” Hinting at the nuance that this environment entails, the EMT revealed, “A big part of the 911 system is the police... and in times that we may have called an ambulance more quickly if we came upon something on the street, we’re trying to keep it as the last resort but at the end of the day you need to do what’s best for the patient... we have an oath... ‘it’s do no harm,’ to make sure someone gets out of here ok.” The veterinarian, who carried a defibrillator on her arm (which is used to reset the electrical state of the heart), conveyed that even though her speciality is animals, “At the end of the day if I could have me treat me or no-one, I would choose me. I’m a doctor, I have medical knowledge and I’m better than nothing...so that’s what compels me to come out because I can do something.” The EMT added, “Seeing us out here is 95% of what we offer, there are not of a lot of emergencies luckily recently, so you’re a safety health-care presence that people see and feel that there is somebody... that is on the side of the protestors.” This is a stark contrast to the early days of protests just weeks before, where these volunteer medics addressed a lot of trauma-induced injuries related to police brutality from contusions to sever lacerations, baton strikes, and even vehicle-to-human collisions. They left me with a question to ponder on- “[What] if the police all thought of their jobs the same way a lot of the street medics think of it?"