In his 17 years as an emergency medical provider, Anthony Almojera thought he had seen it all. “Shootings, stabbings, people on fire, you name it,” he said. Then came covid-19.
Before the pandemic, Almojera said it was normal to respond to one or two cardiac arrests calls a week; now he’s grown used to several each shift. One day last spring, responders took more than 6,500 calls — more than any day in his department’s history, including 9/11.