A true American hero:
On the same day that New York City’s 911 dispatchers fielded a volume of calls not seen since the Sept. 11 attacks, Paul Cary, a paramedic, set out for the nearly 1,800-mile drive from Denver to New York City in an ambulance.
Mr. Cary, a retired firefighter who worked for three decades with the Aurora Fire Department, was known for being a skilled paramedic who was willing to pitch in to cover the shifts of co-workers.
A colleague, Rick Diemert, described Mr. Cary as a “really, really dependable gentleman.”
Mr. Cary arrived in New York City in late March, days before the authorities issued an emergency alert about the growing coronavirus pandemic: “Seeking licensed health care workers.”
For three weeks, Mr. Cary transported Covid-19 patients to hospitals by ambulance and helped dispatch 911 calls because of the high volume.
Mr. Cary, 66, had already signed up for a second 30-day deployment in New York when he started feeling sick. Eleven days later — on Thursday — he died from Covid-19 at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
Mr. Cary was employed by Ambulnz, an ambulance company that deployed 72 employees from across the country, including California, Colorado and Tennessee, to help in New York.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday that New York was grieving for Mr. Cary and that the city would erect a memorial to him.
“We have lost someone who came to our aid, to our defense,” he said. “And there’s something particularly painful when someone does the right thing — a fellow American comes from across the country to try to help the people of New York City, and while working to save lives here, gives his own life. It’s very painful.”
There’s more about him here.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him…
