A photojournalist switched careers and became an EMT just months before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Recently, he brought his camera along to document what he and his crew are seeing.
After three years living in Nairobi, Kenya, working as a photojournalist throughout Africa and the Middle East, I decided I wanted to move home and pursue a career in public safety. I had always been interested in emergency medicine and was an emergency medical technician in college, so I got recertified and was hired by Empress Emergency Medical Service in a suburb of New York City last September.
I remember reading briefly about the coronavirus earlier this year but not thinking much of it — until the second documented case in New York state was announced in early March, in Empress' coverage area, New Rochelle.
As cases multiplied and our work became riskier and more intense, I felt an obligation to document. Over the course of three weeks in April, I photographed my colleagues as we worked to do our part to combat the pandemic that has frozen our country.
Empress' EMTs and paramedics work shifts that can range from eight to 24 hours. Last month Empress responded to about 350 cardiac arrest calls, many of them the result of complications stemming from Covid-19. The monthly average for cardiac arrest calls before the pandemic was 30 to 40.
AndrewJohn Briones is the operations captain at Empress Ambulance. He has been in emergency medical services for the past 12 years and said he'd never seen anything like this.
"Not many people alive today have ever seen anything like this nor could imagine that something could cripple the world like this," he said.
I watched Briones have difficult conversations with people who were likely sick with the virus, the same kind of conversations I was having with my patients.
Often there is a tough decision to be made on whether they should go to the hospital. You can stay home and risk getting sicker or go to the hospital and possibly die alone.
"I always worry if the family truly understands that this might be the last time they see their family member," Briones said, "if this would be what they would want."
![Captain Briones checked an E.K.G. of a man showing flu-like symptoms. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/JSTOSYBKZLPEP4FK53M3USUPSM.jpg?auth=e31d20f704371dc08d87a1b37dd5a85664178aaf55995d39e6fcd0fe1d1a0d97&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Lieutenant Cosgrove helped Gustavo Flores, 69, with supplemental oxygen in his home. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/HTXO7OQRAEYN7REP7LKRW5NYZQ.jpg?auth=67d7f95dd244dd3ddcf6a7e5c0a4c4df439d5c1b687b207f9f831dfe4d53144a&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Gustavo Flores with his wife, Sofia, as he was taken to be put in an ambulance. Sofia tested positive for coronavirus but had not been feeling sick. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/M74OCIQRWZSD4UC4WG6YFHG3FE.jpg?auth=063bfafadee0b1e2c6ca1bbf448fa2e7824650e9f63d8b7bf8eb2858a75222ff&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Captain Briones spoke to family members of a man showing flulike symptoms, explaining via FaceTime the recommendation to stay home except for emergencies. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/IAJMCJKQYD2PAPO2SHBXAEB3QU.jpg?auth=ecaa543c96c5497b545cf9c5a1e964727d7c782bde9550732d664c249629c4f4&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![EMTs assisted a man who had fainted on a bus, eventually determining the fainting spell wasn't Covid-related. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/MD6CHJEVHCCPOXA5WQCUCCDHNM.jpg?auth=4f8f2c5d9ee97efa94485db571719a03232ef3aa0a89c340b25b1874dbb0298a&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Captain Briones on a call to a man who said he was feeling short of breath. He was taken to the hospital, a likely Covid-19 case. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/UZAITAWKKJT7J7VLDSRQ4ENT2E.jpg?auth=42a01b50d1e1efe6197ac842318f225899ad5926747bf8786dcc207b0dc39d66&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Most of the time we don't know what happens to the patients we treat. I've found this to be one of the most difficult parts of the job, especially right now.
We treat people in the field, transport them to the hospital, then don't ever hear from them again. Often, I don't know if the patients I brought to the hospital lived or died.
Many of us are also struggling with isolation from friends and family. My colleague, Austin Magnuson, 25, a paramedic from Dallas, has been sleeping in the basement of his home for the past month because he is worried that he might infect his partner and roommates.
I haven't seen my partner, Maya, or my dog, Bear, since March 14. We decided it was best for Maya to stay upstate because her father suffers from a compromised respiratory system. We were scared that I could pass the virus to her, which in turn could infect her dad. I've found coming home to an empty apartment hard. I know I'm not alone in this experience.
![Paramedic Natalie Rivera with a patient showing Covid symptoms. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/WD2GMR4FEEGFTHMOXTQDVQVKQA.jpg?auth=efb131dede2188db98a8663500faa703aed8d11aea5e78433e679783cedecbb8&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![EMT's took oxygen levels of a woman whose home health aid had tested positive for Covid-19. She had been displaying its symptoms. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/SV427KA6VI34W4I743HXK76MLI.jpg?auth=7f1499b252185192e610c9791ac5edf3d2c249a57a2ccac989ffbd564ace3df3&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Paramedic Cris Loguidice, EMT Vincent Cabrera and Captain Briones helped the woman onto a stretcher. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/PAECY4AF67FOXDAHHNIBZG3NS4.jpg?auth=717b873480cb52253fe8a30c18a5de8df70c64e6b463eacaefaf3a42c3b5f5fb&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Paramedic Brianna Keesler with a kitten rescued from an emergency call. The crew named the kitten "Rona." Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/MTG75ZV4BVFNQPIHIP7YHMA5VA.jpg?auth=bff7675458d0fd94492948590c143a537502da7eb091e5468184d73cba1dc3d0&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Captain Briones spoke with a mother and her daughter outside their home. The girl had been coughing but she and her mother decided to stay home. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/AAQUI7ZQYKSAJDUWHA3IF54VTY.jpg?auth=d78306a8fcbb0d34a84462a1497bc88cd69ab41c04336c8119639791505c7e9b&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Lt. Rebekah Cosgrove became a supervisor at Empress a month before the coronavirus outbreak hit.
"The hardest part is seeing the toll it will or already has taken on health care workers' mental health, " she said.
For most of us on the Empress crews, this is the most death we've have ever had to deal with.
"I don't think I've ever come to work and prepared to be dealing with fatalities and loss on a scale like this," Magnuson said. "It's the first time I really thought about losing people I care about. I've never felt so powerless.
"I think for me, the biggest thing for me, is to take it one day at a time," he added. "Some days are going to be worse than others. Some days will be more frustrating than the others. I tell myself every day, 'One day at a time.' "
![Paramedic Austin Magnuson tended to a woman in cardiac arrest. "It's the first time I really thought about losing people I care about. I've never felt so powerless," he said.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/65J6OBY6O2NJJC2PVBIX746UQY.jpg?auth=b2024981d51442c5a19cb0d3a09c80897ac507d9084441f7c65e549bd60cff96&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Lieutenant Cosgrove spoke to family members while attending to a possible Covid patient. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/JU4EGRSHZRTOA4R43V4ANSYA54.jpg?auth=b7df234fc921892e41b55ce65a57c90dae2564291e95616ae9b1166bc56e063e&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![EMT David Mullan with a patient. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/WCOCJ646XTLP53POO6OQZNMTYM.jpg?auth=6e3b71b03dd9b0c2d5fb843729697a93119aad7bb51d7752bab9ef6e82aecf18&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![EMTs moved an elderly patient from a nursing home to an ambulance. The patient was showing signs of both Covid-19 and sepsis. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/HZCYXOJBXAJ7XUQUTHDOSAYHA4.jpg?auth=3f820606675a745d08e117664c10887f8c0884d36a9e66028923c1d7cbab7cda&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Captain Briones played a game on his phone, awaiting the next call. "I need these stupid games right now. It helps take your mind off the things it sees." Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/44LH767ULTGOOKN4FLAD6NKPBY.jpg?auth=d43e0fcde33c1e0a58162dbb15303e46ce6ae69e09cdf3fe24ded8e98df700bb&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
![Captain AndrewJohn Briones and Paramedic Christopher Ramirez-Apuzzo walk back to their ambulance after a call in Yonkers, New York. Photo / Andrew Renneisen, The New York Times](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/VLYXUD6DAVBKEV6DUXSXY6XWRY.jpg?auth=14b363bb407759e4360f4c58a6c3be9d199e221ae4298f29d3a848ac01aa65d1&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Written and photographs by: Andrew Renneisen
© 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES