Politics on the Hudson

   Matthew Lamb, a Lake Carmel, Putnam County, emergency medical technician who died in the line of duty last year, will have his name added Thursday to a state memorial that honors EMTs who have died while on the job. Lamb was a 25-year-old EMT with Empire State Ambulance Corp. of Fishkill, Dutchess County, and a volunteer firefighter in Carmel. He died last November when the ambulance he was riding in went off the road and crashed into a tree in Garrison.  

   The late Deborah Reeve of the Fire Department, City of New York EMS, will also be added to the list of names on the memorial. Reeve, who was 43, died from an illness contracted during the Sept. 11, 2001 recovery operations.

   The two additions will bring the total honored on the memorial to 34 since it was constructed. The memorial, located in Empire State Plaza across from the Capitol, is a large granite stone with the carving of a Tree of Life on it. The person’s name, EMS service and date of death are carved into a leaf shaped like the Star of Life, the traditional EMS symbol. A separate star is given to the family. Annual memorial services began in 2004.

   “I am saddened for their loss, but grateful to them and to all emergency medical service personnel for their commitment to their profession and to the lives of all New Yorkers,” Gov. David Paterson said in a statement. “This memorial stands as a permanent testimony to this commitment.”

  This is EMS week, and the state Department of Health is honoring the more than 58,000 certified emergency medical services providers and thousands of support staff and medical dispatchers. Regional EMS councils will hold celebrations, dedications or special programs in their communities. For more information, visit www.nyhealth.gov/nysdoh/ems/main.htm.

   There are more than 2.7 million EMS emergency and non-emergency ambulance transports each year in the state. Nearly 1,150 ambulance services operate more than 5,000 ambulances, and another 800 non-transporting first-response EMS services.