ALEX: So this is officially Getty Square.
This is what I call the ground zero of Yonkers.
This is where it splits south and north.
We're heading towards south Yonkers.
Or I like to say, where all the fun stuff happens.
Exactly.
JAMAL: You said you started here an an EMT, right?
ALEX: I did.
I came to Yonkers to get a job with Empress.
You were wearing light blues back then.
I was wearing light blues.
Before that, I had no idea that Yonkers was even a thing.
JAMAL: I've always wanted to do this.
I was born and raised in the Bronx.
So I've seen a couple of people be shot.
I've seen a couple of people stabbed.
I remember, this kid, I think, one shot to the head,
still trying to talk with one [inaudible] to the stomach.
And we're all just standing there.
I was like, whoa, what could we do?
Apparently, the firehouse, they heard the shots.
And they showed up.
They did their best for that kid.
Wow.
JAMAL: And I stood there, and I watched them.
At that point, you knew.
I was like, yeah, he's not making it.
And then I was like, I really wish I knew what I could
have done in that situation.
43 Medic 1.
ALEX: 10-4.
Let's get some lights and sirens.
Stroke?
That's what I'm thinking.
[sirens]
DISPATCHER (ON RADIO): [inaudible]
ALEX: 54.
54? We've got 42.
Here we go.
Yep, there we go. How you doing?
ALEX: What's going on? Hi.
Hey, honey.
ALEX: Can't speak?
ALEX: Do you understand what I'm saying?
No?
Give me your hand.
Squeeze.
Squeeze. Nothing?
No.
JAMAL: Are you having problems breathing?
ALEX: No, no. JAMAL: No, swallowing.
He's saying he can't talk, correct?
ALEX: There's a couple things we look for when
someone's having a stroke.
We see if they can give us a big toothy smile where
it's symmetrical on both sides.
We try to see if they can put both arms in front of them.
And do they stay up?
Can you make a fist?
ALEX: Nothing, huh?
He was unable to follow commands.
So this is another one of those I'm scratching my head.
What could it possibly be?
When was the last time you saw him acting
himself, walking, talking?
It's 70 over 110.
FRIEND: Is he all right?
ALEX: Blood pressure's high.
His blood pressure is elevated.
There was nothing in his environment
that indicated to me that it was poison,
alcohol, drugs, anything.
Take a seat.
Beautiful.
ALEX: If I leave him there, and it is a stroke,
he's not going to make it.
If I leave him there, and it's something
that we haven't figured out, he's not going to make it.
JAMAL: On you. Ready to go?
Ready, babe. Let's go.
JAMAL: All right.
OK, you're OK. [beeping]
Slow your breathing, honey.
[coughs]
ALEX: Do you feel sick?
ALEX (VOICEOVER): When he was in the ambulance,
I was watching him experience other signs and symptoms
of a worsening condition. - ETA?
I'd say about eight or nine minutes.
We're on the [inaudible] now.
ALEX (VOICEOVER): He went into unresponsive,
couldn't wake him, blood pressure through the roof.
[radio transmissions]
He's actively stroking.
Stay with me, honey.
Open.
One of the indicators of a stroke
can be very high blood pressure, like 240 over 130.
It's off the chart.
And I have to get it down.
I administer two nitroglycerins under his tongue.
There we go, much better.
ALEX (VOICEOVER): It began to bring the pressure down,
which was great.
ETA?
Turning into the lot now.
156 over 94, like it.
Everything else is up to the CAT scan.
[music playing]