NYU Winthrop Hospital recently announced that it will become the exclusive provider of ambulance services to the Incorporated Village of Garden City, which went into effect Jan. 7. NYU Winthrop will provide 24/7 coverage 365 days a year to Garden City, with two ambulances on duty at all times and a third ambulance activated for special events, such as the annual Belmont Festival and Holiday Spectacular.
The hospital, in affiliation with NYU Langone Health in Manhattan, has a total fleet of 40 ambulances that serve Long Island and the five boroughs of New York. NYU Winthrop’s Garden City first-responder crews, which include paramedics and emergency medical technicians, will collaborate closely with local police and firefighting first responders for maximum safety and optimal response. NYU Winthrop will provide those first responders, when necessary, with Narcan training as well as Stop the Bleed training, the latter a national program that teaches first responders and everyday citizens how to recognize life-threatening bleeding and provide immediate measures to control it.
“NYU Winthrop has long provided swift and experienced teams in response to the emergency needs of our local communities on Long Island,” said Justin Burke, Director of External Affairs at NYU Winthrop Hospital. “We’re proud that our neighbor, Garden City, recognizes that we offer the most skilled of capabilities, and as an American College of Surgeons Level 1 Trauma Center, we have the expertise to handle the most complex of medical cases upon ambulance arrival.”
NYU Winthrop’s agreement with Garden City initially spans two years, after which time it may be renewed for an indefinite period of time. The dedicated ambulances will bear NYU Langone’s purple lettering, with the seal of the Incorporated Village of Garden City on ambulance doors.
Previously, Nassau County served as the first line of response to Garden City residents in need of ambulance services. The county will now serve as back-up to NYU Winthrop’s ambulance services. It’s an agreement Mayor Brian Daughney felt was essential to the well-being of the village.
“The board of trustees determined that one of its priorities was to seek a private provider for ambulance services for two primary reasons. First, we wanted to obtain better coverage for our residents and having two ambulances in our village at all times provides that better service. Second, we wanted to decrease our manpower costs and recoup the lost services of our own police officers related to ambulance service,” he said. “Up until now, one of our officers was required to drive the ambulances to the hospital, and we therefore lost that officer’s patrol services for several hours at a time. So, this agreement with NYU Winthrop has satisfied both goals. Our hats [are] off to trustee Mark Hyer and our chiefs of the police and fire departments for helping solve this problem. We also want to thank Nassau County first responders for their years of dedicated service and for continuing to be on standby in the event of crisis.”
