What it's like to be 911 call responder in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic

• Emergency medical services call responder Virginia Creary answers frantic messages from New Yorkers during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Creary told Insider that her team has seen call volume double. As a result, they had to call in EMS staff from other parts of the US and use telemedicine services to redirect some calls.
• EMS call responders and dispatchers have to help frightened people who run the gamut. Some have minor symptoms while others fear that they or their loved ones are dying.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

When Virginia Creary answers the phone, she often hears screams and cries.

As an emergency medical services call responder and dispatcher in New York City, Creary has witnessed firsthand the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

"In my six years [at this job], I mean, I wasn't around when 9/11 happened...I was a kid in middle school at the time, but everybody says this is worse than that," Creary told Insider. "It's literally hell. It's insane. The call volume, the level of death, the level of jobs."

For almost two months, Creary and her coworkers have responded to tens of thousands of frantic calls from New Yorkers who are worried about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Creary said her call center, which is run by the Fire Department of New York, now receives twice as many daily calls as it did before the pandemic — about 7,000 calls these days.

When she picks up the phone, Creary is unsure if she'll hear from someone with mild symptoms, a person who can hardly breathe, or a family member screaming for help as they watch their loved one's health decline.

"Some people get aggressive and other people completely break down," she said. "The screaming, the crying, you know, the bargaining of 'Please, not my mother or my husband or my child.' It takes a toll."

Body aches, fever, headaches, and trouble breathing are the symptoms callers most often cite, according to Creary.

Callers are overwhelming the system, and many ask for help EMS can't provide

If a caller is concerned about specific symptoms, a call responder can forward them to a telemedicine doctor who can determine if a hospital visit is necessary.

But if a caller asks Creary for an ambulance, she has no choice but to dispatch it.

"It's hard doing the the job that we do because you can't tell the person 'No' [to their request]. You have to help them," Creary said. "So basically, whatever the reason is, whatever is going on with them, it's an emergency to them," so it has to be treated like an emergency.

She said this policy hasn't changed since the pandemic started to overtake phone lines, and as a result, EMS has been overwhelmed from both a staffing and equipment perspective.

Sometimes, people assume that EMS can help them get COVID-19 tests. That's not the case, as 311 is the number to call for testing in New York City.

"They were calling 911 looking to go to the ER to get tested and not realizing that the hospitals weren't testing. Call volume just shot through the roof," she said, adding that these requests worry her because they could unnecessarily expose a caller to the coronavirus if they choose to take an ambulance to the hospital.

Even if Creary tells a caller to dial 311 for testing, they sometimes ask for an ambulance anyway, and she can't deny the request.

As a result, Creary's EMS center has had call responders and dispatchers from other parts of the country fly in to assist with the influx.

It's difficult to disconnect after a 16-hour work shift

Creary tries to disconnect after a 16-hour shift with music, chats with friends, and walks, but said it's become near-impossible to block out what she experienced during the day.

"There's some days where you just have that call and it just sticks with you all day, or you'll have that person in your head or you lose somebody and it's shocking. You have their face in your mind," Creary said.

As the pandemic continues, so do the alarming calls Creary must answer. Her coworkers have been a much-needed support system since they understand the mental toll of the job when her friends and family cannot.

"You can't always rely on your family for things, but you do have your brothers and sisters on the job who you can talk to usually about things. You have a group of friends that you go to get it off your chest. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them," Creary said.