He responded on 9/11 , was shortly thereafter promoted to EMS Lt. Now Vinny Variale is the President of the EMS Officers Union Local 3621. After losing 4 young EMS’ers to suicide during the pandemic and with the nature of their job causing PTSD, Vinny wants confidential mental health therapy for everyone in the FDNY EMS. EMS’ers have been without a contract for 3 years now. They want parity pay & benefits with firefighters and cops. Right now, a NYC EMS’er gets 12 days sick leave. After that, it’s no pay and no medical coverage. So why does anyone join the EMS? Vinny has the intriguing answer.