By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The average response time to medical emergencies during the recent Christmas-weekend blizzard was over 10 times slower than usual, the New York Post reported.
It took almost 55 minutes to respond to critical emergencies during the snow storm compared to a response rate of 5 minutes and 15 seconds on teh same day the year before, according to the paper.
In addition to the slow reaction time, the city experienced nearly double the number of life-threatening emergencies, forcing EMS to try and respond to 122 calls in one day versus the 66 they received in November, the Post said.
Over 1,000 calls for life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks and choking victims were placed for over 11 straight hours, forcing a backlog that slowed the response time to 55 minutes on Dec. 27 and almost 19 minutes the day after, the paper said.
Ultimately, over 9,000 emergency calls were placed over the two-day period.
The blizzard "taxed our resources in ways we have never experienced before," Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano, whose agency oversees the city's Emergency Medical Service, told the Post.
