The man you see pulling the old-school gurney up a NYC transit ramp was Paramedic Richard McAllen, an EMS Paramedic who started on the job in the early 1970s. Rich graduated Jacobi Hospital’s first paramedic class in 1974. Ironically, I was in the last class in 1984.
Rich would be considered a dinosaur by today’s EMT and Paramedic standards, but for the record, he was a dinosaur in the way the NBA might think of Michael Jordan or Larry Byrd, or baseball when it looks back on Jackie Robinson or Lou Gehrig. When Rich passed away in 2009, it send shock waves throughout the NYC EMT and Paramedic world.
He was, in addition to being a talented paramedic and man of great compassion, the union leader of New York’s Local 2507. He was a thorn in the side to “the suits” in the Health + Hospitals Corporation, to EMS, to politicians and to any of those who were nervous about a strong voice for pre-hospital care providers.
The Audacity
Rich was hounded, censured, unfairly transferred and mocked to those who disagreed with his strong, but fair opinions. He was not demeaned or punished because of poor patient care (he was deeply committed to his patients), but because he had the audacity to stand up for us. A much more complete history of his activism can be found at: https://www.mcallanlegacy.org/
I did not know him well. I have many faults, but I don’t claim to know people I didn’t really know. He was assigned to EMS Station 15, Metropolitan Hospital, working Midnights, when I was a newly assigned EMT working the same shift. I was afraid of his activism and perhaps, of losing my job. I believe some of the lieutenants steered clear of him. We were protecting our butts when we should have banded together with Rich and made a stronger case for better benefits and salaries. In those days of division we weren’t quite sure what avenue to take.
In retrospect, Rich was right. Professionally and perceptively right.
As I was in the process of writing The Sea of Peroxide, I couldn’t help but think about Rich, for I have had the opportunity to talk to present day paramedics and EMTs. The picture is still pretty damn ugly. The public remains complacent.
Not About Love
To this day, pre-hospital care providers are underpaid, with ridiculously poor benefits, especially mental health benefits. Many services are teetering on the edge of collapse, but worse, many services have been taken over by big business who treat EMTs and paramedics like discarded tissue. In their bottom-line corporate minds, as long as schools churn out fresh responders, they will continue to use them up until they burn-out.
It takes a long-time and many calls to forge a raw student into a seasoned, professional paramedic. There are no shortcuts. Paramedics leave the job not because they hate patient care, but because systems are designed to burn through good people. The job is not about lights and sirens but ultimately about compassion. Unless the soul of the medic is nurtured, the well can (and will) run dry.
For myself, my street time has long passed. I am sorry I didn’t get to know McAllen any better. He could have saved me from leaving.
If he were alive, Rich would be well into his 70s, I would imagine. He would have continued to fight for salaries, benefits and true career paths. Medical science continues to wring its collective hands for more nurses and physicians, while the answer is right in front of them serving on ambulances.
There is virtually no argument anyone can offer (with, education, obviously) that should stand in the way of an EMT or Paramedic eventually becoming a nurse or physician.
In the end, the meek fight of the union gave way to EMS being taken over by FDNY. Was it good or bad? I cannot say. What I can say, is that for a while, people like Rich fought valiantly back and wanted to change things. The system caved in to big money and greed, not patient care. The paramedic is often the most collaterally damaged. Rich knew it then, I see it now.
