Lenox Hill Hospital located on Manhattan's Upper East Side plans to lay off a dozen emergency medical services employees and close three 911 units — a move unions warn will slow emergency response times across New York City and put lives at risk.
Northwell Health, the company that owns the hospital, informed more than a dozen EMS employees on October 8 that their positions would be eliminated within 30 days.
The decision to shut down three units came after "comprehensive evaluation of our ambulance utilization and deployment," Northwell said.
The layoffs have sparked concern among the EMS unions that represent emergency first responders in the New York Fire Department's 911 system. The Lenox Hill units, while employed by Northwell, also work within the city's emergency ambulance fleet and answer 911 calls when FDNY units are unavailable. Removing three units could make a difference in ambulance response times, according to the medical workers who may lose their jobs.
"The difference in time, every minute counts, every second counts," said Jordan O' Neil, one of the paramedics laid off. "There's so much time that we're losing, because we're nowhere near some of the calls that we get sent to, because the system is so overloaded."
Over the last few years, ambulance response times and the number of calls per day have increased. It takes ambulances on average over 11 minutes to arrive after a 911 call is made for life-threatening emergencies, according to the Mayor Management Report for Fiscal Year 2025. During the pandemic, the average was nine minutes, city data show. The FDNY's 911 system receives anywhere from 400,000 to 500,000 911 calls per day, according to Oren Bazilay, president of EMS Local 2507, the union representing FDNY emergency medical technicians and paramedics in New York City.
"The demand is very high for services, for EMS and any time or every time we lose one unit, something has to give," said Barzilay. "So losing a few units is definitely gonna impact the service we provide. Those areas will not be covered now."
Jahrodney Williams, a paramedic at Lenox Hill Hospital who was initially affected by Northwell's cost-trimming measure but will remain in his position due to seniority, said the potential ramifications for Upper East Side residents shouldn't be overlooked. "From 86th and 72nd Streets, there are about 12 nursing homes and assisted living [facilities]," he said. "So if there are less ambulances for that population, longer response time, the unfortunate result of that is people may die."
"The layoffs and unit closures come a few months after the hospital was approved by New York City Council for a nearly decade-long $2 billion renovation, with opposition from the community due to the scale of the project and environmental concerns. Northwell's intent with the renovation is to modernize the hospital to "deliver exceptional care for generations of New Yorkers," according to a statement received by CBS News. This plan contrasts the company's latest move with the intent "to further optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations within the greater New York metropolitan community."
"They want to cut ambulance services to the same community they begged to build this building," said Williams. "This was a slap in the face of not only the public health and safety of the community but just on their word as a whole, when they promise to do what's right in the best interest of the Upper East Side area."