On Assignment: JCMC EMS: There when they’re needed the most

The Jersey City Medical Center EMS Department provides Basic Life Support to the City of Jersey City, Advanced Life Support to greater Hudson County and 9-1-1 Communications in greater Hudson County. The JCMC EMS responds to more than 90,000 incidents a year. Their headquarters is located at 415 Montgomery Street which also houses a training center. EMTs and paramedics work 12 hour shifts for three to four days a week responding to calls ranging from transporting patients from the medical center to other facilities, to life-threatening emergencies such as gunshot wounds, fires and traffic accidents. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Melissa Isidro, an EMT for six years, is the station supervisor during this shift. Her responsibilities include scheduling employees and taking charge of all equipment. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Vehicle service technician John Roper makes IV kits to put in bins containing other medical paraphernalia, ready to replenish supplies in ambulances. The bin system was developed to keep supplies organized and help EMTs and paramedics re-supply their ambulances quicker. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMT and dispatcher Dennis Patrisso works in the HUDCEN 9-1-1 call taking center located at the Jersey City Medical Center. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

The JCMC EMS uses a system which uses past statistical data of what day of week and time of day and in which area demand for emergency service is great to determine where and when ambulances will be dispatched and how staff will be scheduled. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

A screen shows the status of each unit whether they are on the way to an emergency call, are at the scene, are transporting a patient or are on their way to their assigned post. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Bill Bayer checks his jump bag, a basic medical kit EMTs carry on every call, at the start of his shift. Bayer, who was Jersey Journal’s former chief photographer, has been working as an EMT since 2002. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMTs Bill Bayer and Stephanie Cordero, who has been an EMT for seven years, prepare to leave for their assigned post. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Paramedic and Tour Chief Ian McFarland cleans his command vehicle at the EMS headquarters on Montgomery Street at the start of his night shift. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Station supervisor David Mastropietro distributes radios to EMTs who are just starting their shift. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMT Melissa Isidro, second from right, supervises a group of students in an EMT class during a hands-on excercise teaching them basic skills on what to do when a patient is not breathing. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

While responding to a call for a pedestrian struck on Montgomery Street, Tour Chief Ian McFarland and EMTs Bobby Burns and Adam Gonzalez ask each other if they have seen the victim who was not seen at the address the caller had provided dispatch. After driving just a few doors down, McFarland was able to locate the victim, who was brought to a nearby mosque by witnesses. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMTs Bobby Burns, right, and Adam Gonzalez, uses a gurney to move the victim of a hit-and-run on Montgomery Street from inside a mosque to their ambulance to transport to Jersey City Medical Center. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Tour Chief Ian McFarland keeps track of where units working the night shift are stationed and dispatched using a MARVLIS system in his command vehicle. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Tour Chief Ian McFarland stops at North Street where a call came in for a woman having difficulty breathing. McFarland says sick calls are the most common calls they get. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMTs Julia Smith, left, and Matt Curasco, right, and paramedic Robert Beddoe, second from right, with help from firefighters, place a man who was hit by a car on Central and Laidlaw avenues, onto a backboard to be carried to the ambulance. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

From left to right, EMTs Julia Smith and Matt Curasco and paramedic Robert Beddoe load the man who was hit by a car on Central and Laidlaw avenues into the ambulance to be transported to Jersey City Medical Center, as paramedic Astro Ayala prepares the IV drip. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

From left to right, paramedic Astro Ayala, EMT Matt Curasco and paramedic Robert Beddoe, perform patient care on a man who was hit by a car at Central and Laidlaw avenues inside the ambulance on the way to the emergency room. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

An IV drip is attached to the arm of the patient. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMT Matt Curasco drives the ambulance transporting the injured man to Jersey City Medical Center. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

EMTs Jamel Clark, left, and Tim Peterson prepare to transport a man who was reported to have an “altered mental status” from the bus platform of the Journal Square PATH station. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)

Carolina Campo and Henson Barnes, EMTs for 10 and 18 years, respectively, turn over their radios, ambulance keys and Zoll Tablet ePCR–used in writing up electronic patient care reports–to Tour Chief Ian McFarland at the end of their shift. (Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal)