‘We Lost a Hero Today’ - NYC Lifesaver is Killed on Duty

Lt. Alison Russo-Elling was a World Trade Center first responder and the 1,158th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty. Photo courtesy of the FDNY

By Bob Hennelly

A veteran FDNY EMS Lieutenant was stabbed multiple times while she went to grab a late lunch on Thursday afternoon less than a block from her EMS Station in Queens. FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, 61, was transported in critical condition to Mt. Sinai Hospital where she died from her injuries, according to a statement released by the FDNY. 

“We lost a hero today,” said Mayor Adams on a Facebook post. “Alison Russo-Elling was a 25 year veteran of FDNY EMS. She was murdered on duty in an unprovoked attack. Her assailant is in custody. Lt. Russo-Elling gave so much for our city. Please keep her family and the FDNY in your prayers tonight.”

A Long Island resident, Russo-Elling is survived by her daughter and her parents. Wake and funeral information are pending. Hundreds of her FDNY EMS  colleagues formed an impromptu honor guard at Mt. Sinai Hospital last night when her body was being removed to the morgue.

Lt. Russo-Elling was a World Trade Center first responder and the 1,158th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty. In 2017, Emergency Medical Technician Yadira Arroyo was murdered on the job when an assailant attempted to steal her FDNY EMS rig and ran her over. In a bitter irony, Arroyo’s alleged attacker, Jose Gonzalez, was in a Bronx Courtroom on Thursday to set a date for his criminal trial in January after years of delays while defense lawyers and prosecutors battled over his competence to stand trial. 

“Members of EMS serve only to save the lives of others,” said Acting FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. “To be attacked while doing that noble work is heartbreaking and enraging for our entire Department. Lt. Russo-Elling exemplified FDNY EMS. She was a beloved veteran of the FDNY who served with honor and distinction for more than two decades. We stand together with her family and her colleagues in mourning during this incredibly painful time.”

“We are hurting tonight and grieving over the loss of a wonderful human being who dedicated her life to helping and saving others,” said DC 37 Local 3621 President Vincent Variale.

“She was six to seven months from retiring and was one of the nicest, friendliest, warmest people,” said  Local 3621 Vice-President Anthony Almojera. “We are so short-staffed now and the turnover is so great that the loss of someone with this much experience is incalculable. How do you make up for that when we are now in such a degraded situation with the average employee being only on the job for five years?”

“On behalf of all members of FDNY EMS, our condolences go out to the family of Lieutenant Alison Russo-Ellin,” said Oren Barzilay, president of DC 37 Local 2507, which represents the FDNY EMTs and Paramedics. “It’s a tragic incident when any life is lost, but especially a member of our EMS family who has dedicated her life and career to protecting and saving the lives of her fellow New Yorkers.”

“The death of Alison Russo is a tragic reminder of the dangers faced by each and every member of the FDNY and uniformed services,” wrote Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro and Fire Officers Association President Lt. James McCarthy, in a joint statement. “Her senseless killing brings sorrow to every member of the FDNY. We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Department with bowed heads, and we will forever be here to support our FDNY family in this unspeakably difficult time. We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Alison’s family, loved ones, and colleagues.” 

Increasing Dangers on the Job

For several years, FDNY EMS unions have decried the increase of workplace attacks on their rank and file. In 2018, according to the FDNY, there were 163 assaults on FDNY EMS workers. In 2019, that number jumped to 217. In 2020, the start of the pandemic, it hit 329, spiking to 386 last year. 

Over the same arc of time, the number of patients that assaulted their FDNY EMS caregiver went from 107 to 237 last year. By contrast, violent attacks by a member of the public, not the patient, like a family member, went from 22 in 2018 to 126 in 2021. 

Not captured in this FDNY tracking are incidents like the shooting earlier this year of EMT Richard McMahon, 25, who works for Staten Island’s Richmond University Medical Center, which provides EMS coverage for the city’s 911 system. McMahon is a member of SEIU 1199. McMahon survived the shooting. 

The uptick of attacks on the city’s EMS workforce is not an isolated phenomenon. International and national occupational health reports have flagged a troubling uptick in violent assaults on EMS workers as COVID paced unprecedented stress on public health systems here and around the world. 

According to the FDNY, the FDNY’s EMS workforce, represented by DC 37 Local 2507 and Local 3621, answered two-thirds of the city’s 911 medical calls, with the other third going to a network of so-called Voluntary Hospitals that provide fully-credentialed EMTs and Paramedics. The FDNY data does not include that portion of the workforce whose private sector employers are covered by OSHA reporting requirements. 

The FDNY EMS workforce, rank and file as well as officers, is close to 5,000. According to the EMSPAC, a non-profit advocacy group, New York City has a total of 14,500 EMS workers divided into four “distinct deployment models with different funding channels, varying benefits, uniform colors, vehicle colors, conditions, and levels of prestige–FDNY 911 Municipal, Voluntary Hospital 911, Private Inter-facility Transport, and Community Volunteers.”

In that mix include private sector EMS providers that are non-union. There is no integrated database tracking assaults on public, private sector and community-based volunteer EMS members. The FDNY statistics tracks only assaults on FDNY employees who are civil servants covered under New York State’s Public Employee Safety & Health Bureau that was created in 1980. 

In 2006, Albany enacted legislation requiring public employers like the City of New York to “develop and implement programs to prevent and minimize workplace violence and help ensure the safety of public employees

A pre-pandemic survey of close to 2,000 EMTs from 13 countries, mostly from the United States, found that two-thirds reported having been assaulted on the job with weapons being used in 10 percent of the incidents. 

“These EMS personnel have a rate of occupational fatality comparable to firefighters and police, and a rate of nonfatal injuries that is higher than the rates for police and firefighters and much higher than the national average for all workers,” the researchers reported in their study published by Cambridge University Press. “Emergency Medical Services personnel in the US have a rate of occupational violence injuries that is about 22-times higher than the average for all workers.”

Despite recent progress in the last round of contract negotiations, FDNY EMS personnel pay and benefits lag considerably behind their uniform counterparts in fire and police.

Variale used the recent mass casualty subway shooting in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn to illustrate the uniform forces disparity which the EMS unions have long alleged is linked to their more gender and racially diverse demographic. 

“Consider we were all standing at the same spot, responding to the same emergency in the subway where they found some unexploded devices – yet had they gone off and FDNY EMS were injured they would be off payroll after 18 months while cops and firefighters at the same scene would be eligible for unlimited sick time,” said Variale. “If one of us died, there would be a one-time $150,000 payment while police and fire would have their spouse and family receive payments and benefits the rest of their lives. Why the difference?”