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Emergency Workers Recall Working the Blizzard of 1978
Current Boston EMS Superintendent Dianne Cavaleri remembers medicine being delivered to residents by snowmobile, including insulin to diabetics.
The following was written by Jennifer Mehigan, Director of Media Relations for Boston EMS. Thirty-five years ago this week, Boston was engulfed in snow. More than 27 inches fell in a 24-hour period at one point. The snow, and in particular the wind, crippled the city and the region. For many residents, it was an adventure. For members of Boston EMS, it was an experience of a lifetime. “We worked for four days, 24-plus hours straight that first day and then double shifts,” recalls Superintendent Dianne Cavaleri, who was a 23-year-old EMT at the time. “Ambulances were stopped, physically couldn’t move, after the 26th hour.” Depending on what area of the city you worked would dictate how busy you stayed. In the inner city Boston EMS was busy…
Elizabeth Rowe
2:59 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
Wow, what a totally different experience! I was in college and we hadn't yet started the spring term so there we were, hundreds of kids with no reading to do or papers to write. Harvard closed for the first time in 40 years and there was a state of emergency. All the university employees stayed home and we amused ourselves rumbling around in the tunnels under the Houses looking for peanut butter … more ›