FDNY’s EMS Training Graduates: Photos

Connor Hoban (pictured above)Belle Harbor

Why’d you decide to do this?I had a lot of other jobs. I did a lot of DoorDash; I worked at the gym as a trainer. But I wanted a real, stable job, and I wanted something that was noble. My grandfather had a stroke in the summer, and seeing the way the EMTs were so nice to him and made him feel real goodmade me want to do that for others.

Was the training intense?Very. It was paramilitary training. We had to be clean shaven, do push-ups, planking, running — it all sucked. It hurt and was painful. But then, all of a sudden, it's the last day and you’re ready to graduate and the drill instructors are saying that we’ve blossomed.

Christopher O’Connor

Lake Ronkonkoma

Patrick Minihane

Broad Channel

What made you want to be an EMT?

I lost my father when I was 4. My sisters and I wanted to do our part. One works as a physician's assistant; my other sister is about to join the NYPD. My mom's a nurse, and I liked the medical field, but college wasn't for me. So I decided I wanted to be on an ambulance, bringing them to the people like my mother.

Serenity Ford

Laurelton

Robert Maldonado

Times Square

Brittani Williams-Fell

Harlem

What was the most memorable day of training?

Well, before I started, I lost 80 pounds just to be prepared. But in actual training? Had to be the day they simulated an arterial bleed and we had to respond. They created a whole scene where someone pretended to slit their wrists — fake blood down the hallway and everything.

Justin Pedro

Canarsie

Ahsan Abdullah

Jersey City

Colleen Onderdonk

Stony Point

Devin VanSteekelenburg

Holtsville

Anthony Saleme

Roslyn Heights

Ivan Melo Alvarez

Williamsburg

Jose Laguda

Bensonhurst

How do you unwind after training?

Fishing. I usually go around Sheepshead Bay. We rent a charter boat and just go out and go fish. There are flounder, sea bass, porgies. It's a lot: Every call we get, that's the worst day of someone's life.

Victoria Bradford

Broad Channel

Iyanla Edwards

Castle Hill

Junon Jean Baptiste

East Flatbush

Christopher Castiglione

Holtsville

Colin Harrison

Port Jervis

What’d you think of all the rules?

The point was to emphasize teamwork, so if one person messes up, everybody messes up, and we have to run to the other side of the parade grounds and drop into push-up position. Once, I forgot my safety vest and had to do push-ups by myself. The drill instructors took mercy on my classmates.

John Paul Carrillo

Ridgewood

Christopher O’Connor

Lake Ronkonkoma

Patrick Minihane

Broad Channel

What made you want to be an EMT?

I lost my father when I was 4. My sisters and I wanted to do our part. One works as a physician's assistant; my other sister is about to join the NYPD. My mom's a nurse, and I liked the medical field, but college wasn't for me. So I decided I wanted to be on an ambulance, bringing them to the people like my mother.

Serenity Ford

Laurelton

Robert Maldonado

Times Square

Brittani Williams-Fell

Harlem

What was the most memorable day of training?

Well, before I started, I lost 80 pounds just to be prepared. But in actual training? Had to be the day they simulated an arterial bleed and we had to respond. They created a whole scene where someone pretended to slit their wrists — fake blood down the hallway and everything.

Justin Pedro

Canarsie

Ahsan Abdullah

Jersey City

Colleen Onderdonk

Stony Point

Devin VanSteekelenburg

Holtsville

Anthony Saleme

Roslyn Heights

Ivan Melo Alvarez

Williamsburg

Jose Laguda

Bensonhurst

How do you unwind after training?

Fishing. I usually go around Sheepshead Bay. We rent a charter boat and just go out and go fish. There are flounder, sea bass, porgies. It's a lot: Every call we get, that's the worst day of someone's life.

Victoria Bradford

Broad Channel

Iyanla Edwards

Castle Hill

Junon Jean Baptiste

East Flatbush

Christopher Castiglione

Holtsville

Colin Harrison

Port Jervis

What’d you think of all the rules?

The point was to emphasize teamwork, so if one person messes up, everybody messes up, and we have to run to the other side of the parade grounds and drop into push-up position. Once, I forgot my safety vest and had to do push-ups by myself. The drill instructors took mercy on my classmates.

John Paul Carrillo

Ridgewood

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