In celebration of National EMS Week 2024, FDNY held its 28th annual Second Chance Ceremony on May 23, 2024. This special event reunited eight patients who have survived cardiac arrest with the Paramedics, Emergency Medical Technicians, FDNY EMS Officers, Firefighters, Dispatchers, bystanders, and other first responders who helped save their lives.
The eight survivors include a 12-year-old Dylan Garcia, who went into cardiac arrest in gym class at school, Yi-Joo Kwon, a 77-year-old Marathon runner, who collapsed on the Verrazano Bridge during the 2023 NYC Marathon, and 58-year-old Wilfredo Ruiz whose experience inspired his own daughter to enroll in the FDNY Youth High School Program and is currently a student there today.
Several of this year’s survivors received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders before on-duty FDNY EMS officers arrived. Throughout all eight rescues, the crews provided each patient with proper and efficient care from which ultimately saved their life. The FDNY CPR Training Unit offers free compressions only CPR training throughout the city and has trained more than 200,000 New Yorkers to perform bystander CPR, including more than 80,000 high school students.