N1Medic

Mount Vernon doctor suspected in townhouse explosion dies

By STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: July 16, 2006)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Mount Vernon Hospital doctor suspected of blowing up his Upper East Side townhouse rather than allowing his ex-wife to benefit from its sale has died nearly a week after suffering critical injuries in the blast, a hospital spokeswoman said today.

Dr. Nicholas Bartha, 66, died late last night, said Mary Halston, an administrator at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Police had been unable to speak to Bartha after the July 10 explosion because of his condition, but authorities have said they were investigating whether he might have caused it rather than sell the townhouse as part of a divorce judgment favoring his ex-wife.

Bartha's ex-wife, Cordula Bartha, told police she received an e-mail from him shortly before the explosion warning that she would be "transformed from gold digger to ash and rubbish digger.

"I always told you I will leave the house only if I am dead," the e-mail said.

Bartha also sent a disturbing email to colleagues at Mount Vernon Hospital just before the blast, hospital officials confirmed last week.

Two hours before the explosion leveled the Manhattan townhouse, Bartha complained that "life passed me by" and his job at Mount Vernon Hospital was "pure punishment." Bartha said he feared losing the valuable medical office and home, relegating him to a Mount Vernon job he called "dysfunctional." A hospital spokesman described the email as the product of an unstable person.

Investigators have confirmed that someone tampered with a gas line leading into the home's basement, allowing vapors to flow for hours until it caused the building to blow up.

The physician, who lived and worked in the four-story landmark in the posh Manhattan neighborhood, was the lone occupant during the blast. It leveled the building and left the block covered in bricks, broken glass and splintered wood.

At least 14 other people were injured, including 10 firefighters, authorities said.

Rescuers pulled the doctor from the rubble after hearing his calls. He was in critical condition at the Weill Cornell campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital until he died.

The townhouse and land were worth nearly $6.4 million, according to the city's finance department. The property was to be sold at auction in October to pay a $4 million judgment against Bartha, though his ex-wife had predicted he wouldn't leave without a fight.

"He has said many times that he intends to 'die in my house,"' Cordula Bartha said in a petition filed last year.

The doctor was responsible for other implied threats against his ex-wife, according to court records.

A 2005 appellate court opinion said the doctor had "intentionally traumatized" Cordula Bartha, a Jew who was born in Nazi-occupied Holland, by posting "swastika-adorned articles and notes" around their home. The opinion also said Bartha had "ignored her need for support and assistance while she was undergoing surgery and treatment for breast cancer."

The man's next-door neighbors had sued him Friday, claiming the explosion damaged their cooperative apartment and forced them to leave it. They also named the Consolidated Edison utility as a defendant, accusing it of failing to have proper safety devices. Con Ed has said it does not comment on pending litigation.

The 19th-century townhouse on 62nd Street between Park and Madison avenues — just a few blocks from Central Park — once served as a secret meeting place for a group of prominent New Yorkers who informally gathered intelligence for President Franklin D. Roosevelt before and during World War II.

Staff Writer Kathleen Ryan O'Connor contributed to this report.

Twenty years and counting, medical service is still a 'gem'

By Kenneth Partridge, Staff Reporter

Once upon a time, before the creation of Greenwich Emergency Medical Service (GEMS), six separate ambulance companies served the town, providing care that lacked a centralized hub.

“It was not a very coordinated system,” said Charlee Tufts, executive director of GEMS. “I think people got great care as far as it would go, but it was basic life support.”

With the arrival of GEMS, which celebrated 20 years in business with a gala dinner last Saturday night, that all changed. According to Ms. Tufts, today’s ambulance teams bring the emergency room to patients, doing things on the scene yesterday’s responders couldn’t.

“The old system they used to refer to as ‘scoop and run’ —  it was the fast trip to the hospital,” she said. “The change to the profound, advanced life support that was now being performed in the field — it posed an interesting scenario the staff really responded well to.”

The idea for GEMS came about in 1984, when an advisory board was formed to study the issue and create a budget, which was presented to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) the following year.

In May 1986, the RTM approved the budget, and service officially started July 1. Lynn Ridberg, a paramedic and trainer who’s been with GEMS since the beginning, remembers some of the challenges that faced the organization in its infancy, as it consolidated resources from six locations to one.

“We had to get together all the equipment we needed for the ambulances and train volunteers how to assist us in advanced life support, which they were not used to,” Ms. Ridberg said.

Furthermore, newly arriving paid staff and volunteers had to learn the town, which was tricky, since Greenwich is so spread out.

Ms. Ridberg remembers local residents being grateful to have enhanced services available in town, even if some people had no idea what they had been missing.

“I think it took some education for them to even realize what we were doing,” she said. “It was kind of enlightening that a lot of people in town didn’t realize the level of care they didn’t have before we came along.”

Jim Syrotiak, a GEMS paramedic and deputy director, was also there in the early days. He said people were shocked at how thorough ambulance crews were when they arrived at an emergency.

“Probably one of the biggest things I remember was the amount of time we were on scene — that was always questioned,” Mr. Syrotiak said. “Now, we’re taking a more elaborate history, we’re starting IVs, we’re giving medications in certain circumstances. We might even call the doctor at the hospital and maybe discuss more treatment.”

This kind of attention, which often took upwards of 20 minutes, was a far cry from the old days, when paramedics would blow in and out in five to 10 minutes.

The extra time, Ms. Tufts said, has paid off. In cases of cardiac arrest, the save rate used to be 0%, since patients would have to be transported to the hospital before any advanced treatment could be administered. With the GEMS system, that number has soared to 30 or 40%.

“When you figure that amount over 20 years, there are a number of people walking around whose hearts had stopped,” she said.

As more and more people have opted to make Greenwich their home, the number of calls has skyrocketed. Ms. Tufts estimates GEMS fielded 5,100 calls last year — 3,600 or 3,700 of which led to patients being transported to the hospital. In GEMS’ first year, there were about 1,000 calls.

While there are a lot of calls, few turn out to be false, and an estimated 55 to 65% of all transported patients end up requiring life support.

“There is not a lot of system abuse here,” Ms. Ridberg said. “If you go to a lot of big cities, people call for the common cold.”

Despite the large number of calls GEMS has responded to over the years, Ms. Tufts can still remember many of the individual lives her staff has saved.

“The saves that come to mind first and foremost are the young people,” she said, recalling a young man who was electrocuted but went on to graduate college, as well as an eight-year-old girl who survived a car accident and later became part of GEMS’ “Explorer” program for teens.

Ms. Ridberg remembers a woman who was shocked back to life after her heart stopped.

“I now run into her all the time,” she said. “She calls me her ‘Linny.’ She shares stuff about her children and her grandchildren.”

“In this line of work, you see a lot of death,” she added. “When you see something like that, it makes it worth it.”

Mr. Syrotiak has had similar experiences.

“There are the ones you remember and keep in your heart,” he said. “Sometimes people drop off a fruit bowl or flowers.”

“It’s astounding the number of letters [we receive],” Ms. Tufts added.

“The overwhelming feeling from our patients is not only the care and the professionalism [of the staff], but the compassion,” Ms. Tufts said. “The staff here at GEMS pays special attention to the patient and the family.”

With respect to the agency’s professionalism, Ms. Tufts says some of the credit belongs to the 29-member GEMS board, which is constantly approving expenditures for cutting-edge equipment.

“As soon as there is new technology in the field, and we feel it’s good, we can move on it,” she said.

GEMS gets most of its money from a contract with the town, but the agency also has 501©(3) nonprofit standing, allowing it to raise money for supplies, such as new ambulances.

“That’s one of the things I love about GEMS: We’re only as limited as our vision and ideas,” Ms. Tufts said.

In the future, she said, the GEMS vision could include the opening of more stations, as Greenwich’s population continues to climb. Currently, the agency operates out of four locations, the newest being King Street, which is only open Monday through Friday.

“I think the big issue right now is: Does [the King Street station] need to go to a 24-hour station?” Ms. Tufts said.

As GEMS explores this question, Ms. Tufts said, she’s confident the town will stand behind the agency, as it has done for two decades.

“From my perspective, and from the feedback from citizens, they can’t imagine the town without it,” she said. “GEMS is a young kid on the block, but we’ve definitely established our place.”

“In many ways, we’ve only just begun,” she added.

This article regards the drowning of the man at Playland on Tuesday....

From The Journal News 7-6-06

Won Yong Kim's wife, Song Ki Kim, had left the group to take the couple's 5-year-old son on rides but ran back after spotting an ambulance.

When she got closer, Kenny Kim said, she realized it was her husband inside, apparently breathing and conscious. She tried to get into the ambulance for the trip to Greenwich Hospital, he said, but "the paramedics, they said 'no — there's no room inside.'"

A short time later, a police officer brought Song Ki Kim to the hospital, where she was told her husband had died.

"Why, why, why they don't let her in?" he asked about the paramedics. "That's the thing I don't understand. She wanted to go with him so badly. Now she's upset — she couldn't have heard any final word from him."

Scott Moore, administrator of Port Chester-Rye-Rye Brook Ambulance Corps, defended the medic's decision, but wouldn't say exactly why he had refused to let her inside.

"The medic was not comfortable letting her in the back of the ambulance," Moore said. "I'm not going to armchair quarterback his decision. He needs to be focused on that patient and no one else."

I'm sure there's more to the story then the Journal News is letting on....like, um, maybe it was a critical patient, or the wife was hysterical and would have been a hindeance in the ambulance. Some citizen will be reading this, and it will sound like EMS was just being cruel.

I've heard that in addition to Empress people, Mohegan EMS got 23 tickets, Mamaroneck 10 or more, and Somers FD about 15. Should be quite an interesting mix of people on board if everyone shows up.

Another EMS worker gets attacked. From what I hear, this kind of situation that led up to this happens often in Newark....dangerous city.

Man accused of attack on EMS worker

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

BY JONATHAN SCHUPPE

Star-Ledger Staff

The friend of a Newark man who was shot and died later Sunday attacked an EMS worker who arrived to help, police said.

The shooting victim, Johnny Collier, 24, was gunned down at the corner of 12th Avenue and South Sixth Street about 4:15 p.m., police said. A team of EMS workers from nearby University Hospital showed up about three minutes later.

An off-duty Newark police officer, Cornel Irving, happened to be driving by and stopped to see if he could help, police said. Irving saw one of the EMS workers, William Muirhead, getting kicked in the face by a man later identified as Kevin Little, 24, of Irvington. Throughout the assault, Little was complaining that Muirhead "wasn't doing his job," according to police.

Irving pulled Little off Muirhead and held him until more officers ar rived. Little was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and possession of marijuana, police said.

Collier, meanwhile, was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a few minutes later, police said.

Muirhead was taken in a separate ambulance to the hospital, where he was treated for cuts to his mouth and a dislocated jaw, police said.

WCC SUMMER EMT COURSE OFFERINGS

EMT-BASIC ORIGINAL (DAY CLASS)

Dates: June 26, 2006 - August 17, 2006

Class meets Monday thru Thursday

Times: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM Monday - Thursday

Place: Westchester Community College

Science Building Room 367

Cost: $736.00, includes fees.

EMT–BASIC REFRESHER

Dates: July 6, 2006 – August 17th, 2006

Written Challenge offered on July 6 and 8th.

Day: Class meets Thursday

Time: 6:30 – 9:30 PM

Text: AAOS Refresher

Cost: $335.00. NYS DOH funding may be available for eligible members of EMS agencies.

Note: Core Content sessions will be open to CME Students. E-mail for further information.

Pre- registration preferred!

(914) 785-6507 or ems@sunywcc.edu

Textbooks are additional, and are available at the bookstore, or at http://www.emsbooks.com

AAOS: Emergency Care and transportation of the Sick and Injured 9th edition. {0-7637-4738-6}

For further information please contact:

Westchester Community College

Department of Prehospital EMS

75 Grasslands Road

Valhalla, NY 10595-1698

(914) 606-6507

www.wccems.com

This show is premiering this coming Monday night on TNT. Sounds interesting.

Drama a dose of reality

Watch TNT's new drama "Saved" and you'll think paramedics drink, gamble, blast music going to calls and have sex in ambulances.

A little, but not all, of that is true, according to a group of paramedics at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, who viewed "Saved" with the Daily News.

"This is very entertaining," says paramedic Eric Jimenez.

"Saved" launches June 12 on TNT and stars Tom Everett Scott as Wyatt Cole, an off-beat paramedic who slips in a Nirvana CD on the way to calls, wears his shirt unbuttoned and has sex with his ex-girlfriend, a doctor, in his rig.

"It's happened," says 17-year veteran Phil Eguiguiurens, the paramedic supervisor at St. Vincent's. "A long time ago, but it does happen."

Paramedic Lainie Froehlich cringes at that idea, though she says everybody has stories about such extracurricular activities. "The back of the bus is so disgusting," she says. "You think about what goes on in there, you don't want to do that."

Generally, the paramedics who watched with The News liked "Saved," but had concerns about the impression that Cole's character being a gambler would leave with the public.

"There's a huge perception that what people watch is what they actually think," says paramedic Joe Pataky.

The real paramedics all picked out a couple of medical mistakes - such as the wrong drug being administered to a cardiac arrest patient.

And they each related to a scene where paramedics confront a dog, and another dealing with an emotionally disturbed man who thinks he's John the Baptist. The guy eventually runs around the emergency room and steals an ambulance.

"Oh yeah, I'm good for one John the Baptist, or another saint, every day," says Jimenez, who does keep an iPod in his rig for when he's on the way to calls.

Among the songs on his playlist? "Danger Zone."

All contents © 2006 Daily News, L.P.

I see OLM is getting a Type I Wheeled Coach.

How many are they getting?

Also, how many ALS/BLS buses are in OLM's fleet now, and how many ALS/BLS buses a tour do they run?

Contact Greenburgh and ask what it costs for a totally equipped state bid flycar! Just under 70,000 for their new Tahoe.

←

Do you even know what your are talking about? Please, check your facts before posting, your obessive, false, and clueless agenda is becoming obvious to us all. A "fully equipped" state bid flycars DOES NOT include lettering, lights, radios, ALS equipment, staffing salary + benefits, insurance, fuel, maintenance.

maybe if WEMS utilized it's resources better it would be a step in the right direction but things are not changing for the better and the patient suffers in the end.

←

How is this all WEMS fault? WEMS is complying with a contract. How do the individual particpating VAC's not have a responsibilty as well? Things need to be changed in the whole system, and the problems shouldn't be unfairly pinned on WEMS.

There is one FD VAC in their jurisdiciton that is the largest user of ALS...shouldn't they be forced to pay for another car, instead of sucking it from the rest of the system? Dont they play a role in this as well? Why aren' they to blame?

Yes, we agree that medics should have parity with fire and EMS, of course! ut is this about New Castle, or is this about a further "cause"....or maybe a crusade? Everyone knows in New Castle there is one person who is stirring the pot on this issue and has no interest in a real resolution, only an interest in getting the current provider out for vendictive reasons.

cya69, what town board discussions were you reffering to? The medic's weren't going to be hired by New Castle, the only other option they were considering is bids from a cheaper dedicated provider, and Empress was the only other bidder. They had no serious intentions of hiring their own medics and starting their own ALS agency at this point.

I'm also curious why these "crusaders" aren't concerned about career BLS? If they talk so much about ALS response time being so important, what about BLS response time and EMT's getting compensated fairly?

And please, those who want to talk about prices please get a CLUE and base your comments on FACT when you quote prices about flycars!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop with the fabricated propaganda, please.

Very misleading and biased editorial!

The editorial fails to mention or acknowledge the diffence in CALL VOLUME and POPULATION of the Yorktown and Mount Pleasant cars, BOTH of which cover a large area and multiple jurisdictions as well.

And why do you need a paramedic on every call? That is RIDICULOUS as well! What happened to strong BLS being the foundation of EMS?

It also neglects to reconize how the paramedic is dispatched.

Why fight so hard against the consortium (and beat a dead horse), instead of fighting to make it better??? New Castle HAS dedicated paramedics, and let's not forget, New Castle is right down the road from Northern Westchester Hospital.

What a biased and misleading editorial!!! Thank you WAS for providing some true and reliable facts.

The article also fails to mention the diffence in CALL VOLUME and POPULATION of the Yorktown and Mount Pleasant cars, BOTH of which cover a large area and multiple jurisdictions.

And why do you need a paramedic on every call? That is RIDICULOUS as well! What happened to strong BLS being the foundation of EMS?

I can't believe the author is continuing with the propaganda, fueled by a personal issue with the current provider. There are several problems here, and the best solution is certainly not as straightfoward as the author would like you to believe. Also, why was the author so against WEMS stationing a car in New Castle as a possible proposed solution? Hmmmm. If we're so concerned about the consoritum, why not work to make it better, instead of wanting to play by yourself? Certainly, there are tremendous advantages to the current system, as well as drwabacks, but given the state of EMS in this county, the author should make some realizations....

Would it be healthy for Rockland to go down to one hospital? This would certainly screw EMS and their turnaround times, having to go all the way across the county to transport patients. In addition, the growing county would lose a hospital. How does the goverment let this happen?

Nyack Hospital's finances worsen.

By JANE LERNER

jlerner@lohud.com

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: May 18, 2006)

NYACK — Nyack Hospital's finances have worsened to the point where an industry analyst is warning it might not have enough money to stay open.

The hospital lost nearly $2 million in 2005, according to unaudited financial records reviewed by Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency.

Nyack has only four days of cash available to pay its bills, said Garey Fuqua, a Fitch analyst.

Hospitals with similar finances should have about 80 days of cash on hand, he said.

"With four days' cash, they're barely keeping the lights on and the doors open," Fuqua said this morning.

The agency lowered its rating of Nyack Hospital two notches. Its bonds are still considered "junk" or non-investment grade. But the newly updated rating puts Nyack Hospital just two levels above default, he said.

If the hospital defaults on $28 million in bonds issued in the late 1990s by the New York State Dormitory Authority, the state agency could force Nyack into bankruptcy, Fuqua said.

Nyack Hospital released a statement today saying the negative rating issued by Fitch was caused by a number of factors, some temporary and some not.

"The rating will have no affect on the high quality of patient care that the Rockland County community has come to expect from Nyack Hospital," the hospital said in its statement. "We appreciate the community's trust in us."

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

Ziggy, its quite apparent that by your frequent posts on this issue that you want people to hear only one side of the issue. Although a dedicated medic is always a great thing to have, I think we should take a look at some of the other issues involved. Especially since you seem to be, judging by your previous posts anti-WEMS more then pro dedicater flycar. You state that a dedicated medic would be the best and cost the same, but you fail to give facts. With the other proposal, who would provide the ALS equipment and vehicles? Is that included in the cost of a dedicated medic? If another medic is needed in the town, where would it come from? Mutual Aid? WEMS has 2 other medics available, and sometimes more, which is handy when you need an extra set of ALS hands. Is there a decent enough call volume in New Castle to keep the medics on this car proficient? Who would these medics be? And what about OVAC, are their response times also a problem? And why would fragmenting EMS even more in this county be beneficial? And could New Castle even get a Certificate Of Need? Are you even taking into account that other systems you are comparing this one too have more volume and a smaller area to cover. WEMS covers a HUGE area, and an area with not a tremendous volume of ALS calls. WEMS is also based in the area it serves.

As for people saying "ALS, ALS!", what happened to strong BLS? And isn't Chappaqua not that far from Northern Westchester? Sitting on scene with a patient having a heart attack awaiting ALS should be criminal...ever hear of time is muscle and a cardiac cath?

Let's also not forget that sometimes the PD calls for the medic several minutes after dispatching BLS, and I've also witnessed the medic get on scene minutes before the ambulance on numerous occasions. The medic should be dispatched simultaneously with the ambulance, but isn't and thats a factor in response times......yet thats not even mentioned. Interesting.

Hmmmm. I wonder if this article, and this "Ziggy", takes into account the PD's delay in calling for a medic, which is often an issue in the medic's delayed response.

I recently heard that Our Lady Of Mercy Hospital in the Bronx was bought out by Montifiore. What does this mean for their EMS divison? Will they stay OLM*EMS, or merge with the Monte EMS division and their purple stripe scheme?

Super jumbo jets 'will need full-time medics onboard'  Email this article

Printer friendly page

The next generation of super jumbo jets will need a full-time medic on board, the Royal College of Nurses said today.

Rita Mody, a committee member of the college's In-flight Nurses Association, said the move is needed to make sure people who fall ill can get care immediately.

Statistics show that one in 1400 passengers have an onboard medical emergency and eight per cent of those incidents result in an unscheduled landing. Ms Mody said the high numbers of passengers that can be carried on Airbus A380s will lead to a "high probability that someone will fall ill".

The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger plane and can carry as many as 840 people.

Virgin Atlantic, which is putting the A380 into service in 2009, said its staff had extensive medical training. A spokeswoman said the airline planned to board no more than 550 passengers.

New EMT convicted in fatal prank - Virginia

Joshua Philip Martin was in his fourth day on the job as a rescue-squad worker in Russell County when, in a playful mood, he decided to reach into the front seat of the ambulance and zap one of his co-workers with the defibrillator paddles. The rookie's mistake was fatal.

Yesterday, in Russell Circuit Court, a judge convicted Martin, 25, of involuntary manslaughter, warning the burly but pink-faced young man that when he returns to court in March, he likely will be sent to prison. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The target of Martin's prank was Courtney Hilton Rhoton, a 23-year-old mother of two small children who had worked her way through school to become an emergency medical technician. She went into cardiac arrest seconds after Martin placed the paddles on her chest and shoulder. Three days later, on June 4, she died.

After watching bailiffs lead Martin off to jail yesterday, the mothers of Rhoton and Martin stood at opposite ends of a narrow courthouse hallway and wept, one for the loss of her daughter, the other for the fate of her son. All agreed Martin had meant no harm, though none derived comfort from the thought.

"If they just knew Josh!" his mother, Diana White, exclaimed between sobs. "He just made a mistake. Everybody plays on the job, even cops. But with this one, it caught up. He's going to pay for it for the rest of his life."

"He was just playing around," Martin's aunt, Karen Martin, said. "Anybody who knows him knows this was not intentional."

Rhoton's mother, Sandra Davenport, could not summon words to express her grief, except to say: "Everybody loved her."

In the courtroom minutes earlier, Martin had stood with his hands deep in his pants pockets and pleaded no contest to the charge against him, allowing Russell prosecutor Mike Bush to summarize the evidence without calling witnesses. According to Bush, if the case had gone to trial, a witness would have testified that Martin, an EMT, was in the back of a Highlands Ambulance Service ambulance on June 1 when he first picked up the paddles of the manual defibrillator.

Defibrillators are used to restore heartbeats, but they can also stop a heart. Martin, though an EMT, was not yet qualified to use the defibrillator and had been told it is not something to play with, Bush said.

Rhoton was in the front passenger seat of the ambulance, and driver Michael Coleman was heading south on U.S. 19 in Lebanon when Coleman heard Rhoton tell Martin not to touch her "with that," Bush said. Coleman looked back to see Martin putting the paddles away.

But shortly afterward, Bush said, Coleman heard the "sound of a shock" and heard Rhoton yell: "Oh my God, Mike, he shocked me!" Seconds later she stiffened and then went limp. Coleman frantically tried to hold her slumping body up while driving and calling the private ambulance company's office.

Rhoton, who had been an EMT for one year, never regained consciousness. She left behind two children, Christopher and Tamra, now 6 and 4.

Yesterday, the families of the two EMTs passed each other in the hallway as they left the courtroom.

Rhoton's sister, Chanda Lawson, 30, expressed bitterness as she watched the Martin family cry: "They're crying because he's going to jail, but my sister's not coming back."

Karen Martin overheard the comment and blurted out: "Josh is a good kid! A good kid!"

EMS renegades mull strike on New Year's Eve

BY TONY SCLAFANI

DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU

Fed up with stalled contract talks, a renegade group of EMS workers is calling for an unauthorized strike on New Year's Eve, the Daily News has learned.

The potentially life-threatening job action has infuriated the leadership of the Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics Union - and union President Patrick Bahnken has warned his 2,600 members not to betray New Yorkers' trust.

"When trains and buses do not run, people are inconvenienced. When ambulances don't run, people die!" Bahnken wrote in the scathing letter obtained by The News.

The rebel group distributed flyers demanding an illegal strike or sickout on New Year's Eve after contract talks between the union and city ended Monday without an agreement.

The union has been without a contract for 40 months.

Bahnken, who walked off the job during a 1988 strike, pleaded with members to keep working.

"The [TWU] has 30,000 members with no one else competing for their work," he wrote. "Conversely, there is no shortage of private ambulance providers who would readily enter the 911 system if we walked out."

Bahnken, whose union backed Mayor Bloomberg's reelection bid, also reminded his members that the city fired nearly 100 EMTs and paramedics during the last walk out.

The major sticking point in the contract talks is pay raises, but exact financial figures were not available last night.

The mayor's office deferred comment to the FDNY late yesterday.

Fire Department spokesman Frank Gribbon said, "The Fire Department does not anticipate having a problem with its EMS workforce."

2 years already?

Any idea how many will be hired for the next class?

Who's going to be dispatching 38-M-1?????

I thought the city was in the process of phasing out all the boxes??

What about all the victims that AREN'T shockable???????

How is it "Obvious Death" ????