September 11, 2025
Hear the broadcast: https://soundcloud.com/jvcbroadcasting/oren-barzilay-live-on-li-in-the-am-w-jay-oliver
Transcript is below
HOST: Jay Oliver
FDNY union president Oren Barzilay gives us a couple of minutes on this 911 commemorative day. Oren, welcome aboard here, my friend.
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
Good morning. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me.
HOST: Jay Oliver
A little background- Oren represents the paramedics and EMTs who answered the call on 911, continue to face the health consequences 24 years later. Oren, we’ll start out, you know, a lot of folks just didn’t realize it was EMS data that first helped prove the long term health dangers of 911 exposures. Can you talk about how your members health records and early illnesses actually helped prompt Congress to finally take these issues seriously and create a lot of these 911 health programs? If you can elaborate a little more, go ahead.
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
Sure, sure. We, we have the FDNY Bureau of Health services that has created a database and a survey for every time our members walk into the health services doing their annual medicals, they have to fill out this survey, which has hundreds of questions, and over the past 20 years, there’s millions of data input that was entered, and that data was and still continues to be driven down through the halls of Congress with our members, the USA members, the all the EMS data is presented to them, so we take right down to Washington and present them this records showing how impactful this incidence was to our health.
HOST: Jay Oliver
Very important stuff there. You know, when you think of EMS, it kind of gets overshadowed. You know, when you look at the coverage of 911 fire and police, obviously, with such a prominent role, your members, though, were among the first in and let’s never forget the last to leave. You know, when you think about it here, what do you want people to understand about EMS’s role overall that day and in the weeks that followed that was so important?
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
Obviously, yeah, you know, there’s a lot of misconception and perception that our men and women are just ambulance drivers, when in fact they are medical professionals. We are in an era where there is so much medical training given to us that we practically bring the emergency room to your home, to your doorstep, and we save you at your home. It’s not always done at the hospital or doctor’s office. We do multiple interventions that can basically bring you back to life. What you know after you passed.
HOST: Jay Oliver
Very important. You know, the role is just, you know, it’s almost tough to define That’s at the importance of it. How are our younger EMS workers today? Are those who weren’t on the job during 911 still being impacted by these toxins or by the legacy, the overall legacy of that?
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
I believe the legacy is what impacted our young members. A lot of my men and women weren’t even born when this incident took place. I’m sure they know the history behind it, but the the overall impact that September 11 has is that it wanted people to join this department because of that.
HOST: Jay Oliver
No doubt, talking with Oren Barzilay, he’s the FDNY EMS Union President, I guess, final question for you, Oren, you know, listen, you’re on the front lines every day, obviously. What are you fighting for right now and then to make sure that first responders, EMS responders and their families are fully cared for. The lessons from yesteryear, obviously, you’ve learned a lot. What’s the overall message today as far as the fight is concerned?
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
Our biggest fight is equity wages. My men and women work and get paid for, which is poverty wages, $18 an hour. Majority of our men and women don’t stay. They leave within three or five years at the most. We lose 70% of them right off the bat, and it’s, I don’t want to make it sound all about money, but I have men and women who are struggling to feed themselves. They sleep in the car to avoid traveling home, you know, to to avoid the expense of the tolls or the gas of the gas, they sleep at their station. I have some men and women who are living in shelters, and we will try to explain this to the Mayor’s Office, Office of Labor Relations.
They’re without a contract over three years, and it’s just disgraceful and shameful that these men and women save lives every day. We go out there and serve and protect the city, yet the city doesn’t want to reciprocate by giving us what is duly ours, we’re not asking for more than anyone else. We just want livable wages, and it’s impossible to get them to move on. It- It’s disgraceful.
HOST: Jay Oliver
It is disgraceful. You know, it’s like fair market value. Pay people what they’re worth, you know, for the jobs that they do. You know, whenever I see unions that represent police officers and fighting for that extra 2-3% in which, you know, they make a good buck already, you know, I don’t have a problem with it, because you can’t possibly fathom the job itself. As far as its work is concerned, same thing with the front liners and EMS workers and and doctors and nurses and whatnot. You know, if, if you don’t pay them, they’ll leave and then you got to retrain and start the train rolling again. You know that doesn’t work well either.
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
They’re spending millions of dollars every year on retraining people, instead of giving it to those who want to be here. It’s a wasted it’s wasteful taxpayers money. The taxpayers should be extremely upset with the city. We lose 600 people every year, and it’s just a vicious cycle that nobody is paying attention to and nobody cares. You know, we shouldn’t be working for a city that has so much potential and has so many young men and women who are looking to do the right thing, yet when it comes to them, the city just turns their back on them. We got suicides through the roof, PTSD through the roof.
It’s it’s a vicious cycle, and I hope that this mayor and the people that work for him that he gives them the order to do it, because, as of now, nobody’s listening.
HOST: Jay Oliver
So hopefully people are listening to you right now. FDNY EMS union president, Oren Barzilay, Oren, of course, representing the paramedics and the EMTs who answered the call 911 and continue, continue to face the health consequences all these years later. Oren, stay in touch with us, and we hope to have you back at some point.
FDNY EMS Union President: Oren Barzilay
Thank you, sir. God bless.
HOST: Jay Oliver
Appreciate it all.