#329 The First Ambulance: The Humans (and Horses) That Saved New York

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2020

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

EPISODE 329 Did you know that the first modern ambulance -- as in a 'mobile hospital' -- was invented in New York City? On June 4, 1869, America’s first ambulance service went into operation from Bellevue Hospital with a driver, a surgeon, two horses and equipment including a stretcher, a stomach pump, bandages and sponges, handcuffs, a straight-jacket, and a quart of brandy. Within just a couple years, the ambulance became an invaluable feature of New York health, saving the lives of those who might otherwise die on the streets of the city. They proved especially helpful in a riot -- of which there were many in the 19th century! In this show, you'll be introduced to a new way of thinking about urgent injuries and emergency care. True emergency medicine was not a serious factor in major hospitals until the 1960s. Yet on-the-job injuries and terrible trauma from violent crime was a perpetual problem in New York. What was life like in the city before the advent of the ambulance? How did ambulances work in the era before the telephone? PLUS: A tribute to the ambulance workers -- the EMTs, paramedics and drivers -- who have risked their lives to save those of other New Yorkers. boweryboyshistory.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Bowry Boys Episode 329, the first ambulance.
0:04.8	Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:06.3	Hey.
0:07.3	Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:11.0	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
0:20.0	Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys.
0:21.6	This is Greg Young.
0:23.9	Now, every evening in New York for the past few months here at exactly 7 p.m.,
0:31.7	the streets throughout the city have sounded a little something like this.
0:42.4	This has been a kind of grassroots tribute to the medical and essential workers of New York City
0:49.6	who are going out of their way, putting their lives at risk to save the lives of others,
0:55.0	and keep the city up and running during this truly unprecedented time.
1:00.4	So on today's show, I'll be looking at the history of a valuable instrument quite literally
1:06.2	on the front lines of the city's health, the ambulance.
1:11.2	There are so many different kinds of ambulances today, with the most common being those of the
1:17.2	New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, but there are also private
1:23.2	ambulances of many kinds.
1:26.0	In addition, in the last two or three months to help out New York during the pandemic, there
1:31.8	were hundreds of EMTs and paramedics coming in from across the country and over 200 extra
1:39.2	ambulances from as far away as Washington State and California.
1:45.2	So many of us have heard their sirens for many months.
1:48.5	That perhaps you've taken the whole concept for granted.
	...

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