Lillian Bonsingnore is the FDNY's very first woman and openly gay EMS Chief. She started out as an EMT in the Bronx in 1991. Now she runs the country's largest EMS team.
Following is a transcription of the video:
- Lillian Bonsignore: This is the cool part. This is the cool part of the job. Lots of lives are gonna be saved by these people, lots of lives.
Narrator: This is Lillian Bonsignore, The Fire Department of New York's very first female and openly gay EMS chief in the organization's 154-year history.
Bonsignore: I talk about my wife openly. So it's OK that we have this conversation. I'm comfortable with it. I think there are lots of folks that need examples and role models, that need to know that, whatever box somebody is willing to put you in, doesn't mean you have to live there.
Narrator: Lillian started out as an emergency medical technician on an ambulance in the Bronx 28 years ago, and, since, she's worked her way up to the highest-ranking position. She now runs the largest emergency-medical-system force in the entire United States. Her team's a part of the fire department, but these folks are paramedics and EMTs. They work on ambulances, respond to 911 calls, and provide on-the-scene medical care.
Bonsignore: That means there are 4,000-plus EMTs and paramedics that staff our ambulances, that service our five buroughs, and my job is to oversee that and make sure that we are providing the highest level of medical care to those people who need us the most.
Man: Everybody clear? Clear, Joey? Everybody clear? Continue CPR.
Narrator: Born and raised in the Bronx, Lillian says she had a tough childhood and credits her success to a few key women in her life.
Bonsignore: Along my way, very strong women just magically found themselves in my path, and they decided to take an interest in a kid that needed help and, you know, maybe was a little broken growing up in a tough neighborhood with difficult circumstances.
Narrator: It was actually Lillian's pediatrician who suggested she become an EMT.
Bonsignore: I didn't know what an EMT was, but I trusted her with everything that I had, and I took this job for the summer, and it's been 28 years, and it's the longest summer job I've ever had.
Narrator: She moved up the ranks in the Bronx and Brooklyn to lieutenant, captain, and station commander. Along the way, she became an instructor at the EMS Academy and endured the grueling paramedic's training. She was also among the first responders during the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
When Lillian was 30 and serving on the force, she came out as gay. She's now married and has two daughters.
Bonsignore: There have been a couple of men who maybe believed that a woman's place is not in the fire department, and, you know, they don't really appreciate maybe an alternative home situation, but that is their issue to come around to, that's not really my concern, but I will save their lives as quickly as I would save the life of the woman that I've loved for 18 years.
Narrator: After 28 years of service, in May 2019, Lillian was promoted to the fire department's chief of EMS, serving the entirety of New York City.
Bonsignore: Today, I can stand here and accept a promotion to the highest position in FDNY EMS, even though I'm a woman. Today, I can stand here next to the woman that I love, and enjoy the spirit of this special day, when there are more places in this country that you could be fired for being a member of the LGBTQ community.
Those females that are out there and didn't have a role model, and didn't have somebody to say that, yes, this is a possibility for you, now they do, and I take that responsibility on wholeheartedly.
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What It's Like To Be The FDNY's First Woman And Out Gay EMS Chief
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