By James Maher
Name: Elizabeth Cunningham
Occupation: Paramedic
Location: 1st Avenue between St. Mark's and 9th Street
Time: 6 pm on Sunday, July 21
I’ve lived in New York for about 15 years and I’ve been in the East Village for a little over 2 and a half years. The art, diversity, culture, music and food brought me to New York. I grew up as an Army brat so we moved around a lot. I lived in Europe a little bit when I was a kid but I spent most of my formative years in the south, in Augusta, Georgia, home of James Brown and The Masters. James Brown was the better part. It was a pretty closed-minded place and didn’t have any of the things that New York had to offer.
I’m a paramedic. I’ve been doing that for about 17 years now. I work for the City, for 911. I primarily cover the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights. I work 60 to 70 hours a week, full time at Lenox Hill Hospital and then on the weekends I usually work a couple of shifts at New York Presbyterian/Cornell and we cover Midtown — east and west.
I respond to 911 calls and I work in advanced life support. We do everything from cardiac arrest, to heart emergencies, to people who can’t breath. We get the more critical calls. We get a lot of crazy people too ... people barricaded, a lot of violent crimes, although it’s not as much as it used to be. That’s further uptown. The subway accidents are pretty common. They’re more common than people think — it’s not always publicized how many people get run over by trains.
And then at Presbyterian they have a special ops division — it’s a hazardous materials emergency response team. I’m the only woman on the team of 50. If there’s some sort of radiological disaster or if there’s something like September 11 or a dirty bomb or anything with hazardous materials, we’re prepared for that. If something like that happens again we can team up with the FDNY. The training is a lot of fun. It’s definitely a high-adrenaline, Type-A personality type of thing.
I came to the East Village because I just felt more comfortable down here. I lived in a rent-controlled sublet on the Upper East Side for years and I hated it — it was so dry and so bland. It was horrible.
But it was a thousands bucks a month for rent, so it was really hard to give up. I’d ride my bike down here and I hung out down primarily and every time I’d ride back uptown I could see the architecture and the demographic changing and I’d just feel my spirit sinking. I didn’t want to go back up there.
So I finally got kicked out of the sublet. They wanted to tear the building down and then I figured, this was it — now or never. The first time in my new apartment I felt like this weight was off my shoulders. I slept like a baby. You don’t have to leave this neighborhood. Even if you’re broke you can walk to the Park and get free music. It’s perfect. I love it.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
i want her handbag.
ReplyDeletemy life was saved by st vincent's paramedics back in 1993 (anaphylactic shock; paramedics arrived and intubated and bagged me quickly enough to save my life) so i am predisposed to think all paramedics are awesome.
She makes me vasodilate. I 'm having a heaa... heaa...art aaaaa...taaa...ack...ack...ack.
ReplyDeleteLove her sleeves.
Great interview with a cool person! I wish we were neighbors. She is awesome!
ReplyDeleteProud to call Miss Elizabeth my friend!! The East Village is where she is happy & thrives!
ReplyDeleteCH
Another good one!
ReplyDeleteWow 60-70 hours a week as a paramedic. Maybe that's normal, but she deserves every dollar she gets. Someone buy her a drink next time you see her!
ReplyDeleteI will buy her drinks soon! She is an incredible person and works tirelessly to help others!!
DeleteCH
Would love living in the East Village-if I could afford it.
ReplyDeleteVery cool profile- respect to this real life superstar! Glad she's living in and loving the EV
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