New York teens become EMTs to solve shortage in their town

When their small town in New York needed volunteers for its ambulance service, a group of teenagers were the first to respond.
"We went from not even having our licenses to saving people's lives," Dalton Hardison told CBS News.
The teens live in Sackets Harbor, which, like many rural areas, relies entirely on volunteer EMTs. The pandemic caused a shortage of EMTs in Sackets Harbor, as the older volunteers were no longer able to work. In New York, 17-year-olds can become EMTs, and people even younger than that can serve as assistants. That's all the teens needed to hear — they quickly signed up for training, knowing they would be giving up time with friends and extracurricular activities to save lives.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Once their training was complete, the teens immediately got to work, helping their neighbors with everything from chest pains to falls. Cooper Antonson told CBS News when they show up to a call, a lot of people do ask, "Wait, how old are you?" but the teens are professional and have been able to handle the medical emergencies coming their way. "We just explain to them, we are the ambulance," Niklas Brazie said.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play