Published: October 29, 2015
PARAMEDICS IDENTIFY MISSING WOMAN IN MANHATTAN
 Paramedic Juan Henriquez of Station 8 in Manhattan
On Wednesday, October 28, Paramedics from Station 8 in Manhattan identified a vulnerable woman for whom a Silver Alert had been issued on the same day. The woman had last been seen by her family on Staten Island the evening of Monday, October 26.
Just before 10 p.m., EMS received a call from restaurant employees asking for assistance with an older woman who refused to leave their Chelsea workplace, even as they were closing around her. Minutes later, Paramedics Juan Henriquez and Robert Persaud, both of Station 8, arrived to find the restaurant shuttered and apparently vacant. Knocking on the door, the few remaining employees escorted them to a woman sitting alone in the restaurant.
“We could tell that something wasn’t right,” said Paramedic Henriquez, a 16-year veteran of FDNY. “Trying to comfort her, we said that we wanted to ease her children’s worries by taking her somewhere safe and that they would be able to find her there.”
Still, the woman remained reluctant to leave and kept repeating that she was waiting for her daughter and she wouldn’t budge. Ultimately, the Paramedics were able to earn the woman’s trust. Paramedic Persaud explained that if she were his mother or grandmother, he would want to know that she was safe on such a cold and rainy evening.
Escorting her to the ambulance, they realized that the woman seemed familiar. Silver Alert notifications, along with the missing person’s photo, are displayed in FDNY Stations and had been posted at Station 8 since earlier in the day. After establishing that her vital signs were strong, they requested that NYPD meet them at Bellevue Hospital Center, where her identity as the missing woman was confirmed.
“It feels great to do my job,” said Paramedic Persaud, himself an 8-year veteran of the Department. Paramedic Henriquez added, “I love the department so much. We did our job the way we’re trained to do. We told her it was going to be a good day for her. It was a good feeling.”
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