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Lenox Hill Hospital to Stop Providing Paramedic Services

By DNAinfo Staff on January 16, 2013 7:02am

 Lenox Hill Hospital will no longer provide the area with paramedics come Feb. 10. The organization will still furnish EMTs, which have less training and generally cannot administer medications. 
Lenox Hill Hospital will no longer provide the area with paramedics come Feb. 10. The organization will still furnish EMTs, which have less training and generally cannot administer medications. 
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DNAinfo/Victoria Bekiempis

LENOX HILL — Citing financial concerns, one of the city's most prestigious hospitals will stop providing the 911 system with paramedics next month, officials said.

Administrators at Lenox Hill Hospital said it would still provide the neighborhood with emergency medical technicians (EMTs) — who have less training than paramedics and generally are not permitted to administer medications — to respond to 911 calls after the change takes place on Feb. 10.

The medical center had provided 10 paramedic shifts — offering "advanced life support" services in critical cases such as serious car crashes — daily to supplement those provided by the Fire Department, which manages the city's Emergency Medical Services, hospital officials said in a statement.

It was not clear how much the shifts cost.

To compensate for the cuts, the FDNY will provide three additional paramedic shifts and another area hospital will provide another three, department officials said. 

"They'll no longer provide the advanced life support resource," said FDNY spokesman Jim Long. "We're trying to minimize the impact by studying and knowing the response routine and trying to cover the busiest areas."  

Hospital officials said in a statement they have been trying to "ensure a smooth transition."

Paramedics will be allowed to transfer within the North Shore-LIJ system, of which Lenox Hill is a part.

"The restructure of our EMS operations at Lenox Hill Hospital will enable us to become more operationally efficient, improve service, and better control costs," the hospital said in a statement. "Paramedics will have the opportunity to move into EMT positions elsewhere in the North Shore-LIJ system at their current pay rate."

Several emergency medical service workers for Lenox Hill said Monday they didn't know anything about the forthcoming changes. One worker said he had heard about the restructuring and couldn't talk about it.