Five people were stabbed in two separate incidents outside the same New York City nightclub early Saturday morning.The three men and two women were stabbed in front of the Deco Lounge St Vincent paramedics and EMT's treated the victims then took them to nearby St. Vincent's Hospital. All are expected to survive.New York City Police arrested 21-year-old Mario Olmedo on charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon in relation to stabbing a 23-year-old man in the head and a 21-year-old woman in the neck, the New York Daily News reported.

Dumb NYC Paramedic abandoned a 5-year-old boy at a Bronx hospital

An impatient Paramedic was arrested Friday for abandoning a 5-year-old boy at a Bronx hospital on New Year's Eve because he didn't want to wait for the paperwork, officials said.Then to top it off jackass forged the nurses signature

Days after announcing cuts to the Fire Department that include the elimination of 30 ambulance tours this summer, the head of the EMS Union is speaking out and warning that it could cost lives. NY1's Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.
Round the clock day and night, about 250 ambulances operated by the fire department are on duty all over the city, ready to respond to all kinds of medical emergencies.In an internal memo obtained by NY1 last week, the department plans to eliminate 30 of those ambulance tours, effective July 1, to save money. Now, the president of the union that staffs those ambulances warns that's a bad idea.

"When you reduce the number of ambulances available, you drive up the response time, and somebody will die. Somebody's gonna die," said EMS Union President Patrick Bahnken.

Bahnken says this is the worst possible time to cut back since EMS call volume goes up significantly during economic downturns -- a result of people losing their jobs and their health insurance which leads to people not being able to afford medications. He also says anger and frustration lead to spikes in violence that result in more ambulance calls.

The FDNY's own statistics show EMS responded to an all-time high of 1.2 million 911 calls in 2008. That's 100,000 more than in 2003, with the number of calls increasing every year since then.

At any given time, about 20 percent of EMS tours are staffed by personnel working overtime, which the department is hoping to eliminate. The department and the union agree the tours that are cut will likely be picked up by private ambulance companies, although union leaders say that's not a real solution.

"It's a knee-jerk response that ignores a lot of other problems that are created by it. Hospital-based ambulances bring patients back to the hospitals they work for," said Bahnken.

Bahnken says private ambulances like Transcare hurt the bottom line for the city's public hospitals, which lose out on patients and Medicaid and Medicare revenues. He says reducing ambulance tours could have a detrimental impact on public safety.

"I shudder to think that we go back to the 1986, 1987 period when people with major medical emergencies were waiting for 10 minutes or better for an ambulance," said Bahnken.

The FDNY insists the budget cuts have not been finalized and says it plans to meet with the EMS union February 17 to discuss the budget.

The latest victims of the tanking economy.The doors of two Queens hospitals were boarded up Sunday with graffiti-scarred wood planks, the latest victims of the tanking economy.
The message, say critics: Don't get sick in Queens.
"You already have overburdened hospitals," said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens). "Good luck trying to get a loved one to emergency care."
Ambulances stood at the ready outside St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica in case patients showed up unaware the hospitals were closed.
They shut their doors late Saturday night after budget woes sent them into bankruptcy. Some 3,000 workers lost their jobs at the facilities.
"It's a real failure of government to set priorities and manage them properly," Gioia said. "They throw up their hands when the money runs out and say, 'What can we do?' That's not good enough."
Mayor Bloomberg called the closures "sad" and said the city has to do more with less in these tough economic times.
"Having said that, there is no reason for us to ... walk away from our basic functions of government," he said, adding that the Fire Department will dispatch more ambulances in Queens and for other hospitals to fill the void.
Carlos Quiles, a nurse who lost his job at St. John's, said the next best option for care in Queens is Elmhurst Hospital Center, which is already filled to capacity.
"I can't understand the wisdom behind closing the hospitals," he said. "The politicians clearly have no understanding of the ramifications."
Quiles is worried about finding a new job in a tough economy.
"I just have to leave it all in the hands of God," he said.