Diana Cothias was 8 years old when the ground opened beneath her in Haiti, trapping her under rubble as a magnitude 7.0 earthquake tore through the region near Léogâne in January 2010. Sixteen years later, on Thursday, she stood among 124 newly graduated probationary EMTs at Queens College's Colden Auditorium, having transformed that trauma into a career pulling other people out of their own emergencies.
Cothias graduated from the FDNY EMS Academy on August 13, according to a post from the department's official FDNY account, which described her as ready to answer calls to help people when they need it most. The ceremony also marked the promotion of 58 EMTs to paramedic and two paramedics to lieutenant, according to the FDNY, with the newly graduated and promoted members set to be assigned to units across all five boroughs.
“I had my darkest moment and someone helped me, so I wanted to help others,” Cothias said, according to the FDNY's account of her graduation. The sentiment traces directly back to 2010, when she was trapped under debris and later watched as her community came together to help one another in the earthquake's aftermath, per the same post.
An Earthquake That Reshaped a Childhood
The disaster that shaped Cothias's path was staggering in scope. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the January 12, 2010 earthquake killed somewhere between 100,000 and over 300,000 people and left 1.3 million to 1.5 million homeless, with an epicenter roughly 25 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince. Cothias has previously credited watching members of the Haitian Red Cross operate ambulances and pull survivors from wreckage as the spark for her dream of becoming an EMT, a detail the department shared in 2019.
That first responder image apparently stuck. First responders saved lives in the earthquake's chaos, and years later, an 8-year-old survivor decided she wanted to be one of them. The moment fits into a broader story about New York's Haitian community: the city is home to one of the largest Haitian diasporas in the country, with more than 150,000 residents of Haitian heritage concentrated in central Brooklyn neighborhoods like Flatbush and East Flatbush, according to the NYC Department of City Planning. Flatbush is even home to a designated cultural enclave known as Little Haiti.
Training at Fort Totten Ahead of a Historic Anniversary
Before reaching the graduation stage, Cothias and her classmates completed coursework at the FDNY EMS Academy at Fort Totten in Queens, covering CPR, patient medical and trauma assessments, emergency childbirth, spinal immobilization, and emergency vehicle operation, per FDNY training records. FDNY leadership noted that this cohort holds a particular distinction: it is the department's final class of probationary EMTs to graduate before the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks next month.
Thursday's ceremony was presided over by FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore and Chief of EMS Operations Paul Miano, who emphasized that the graduating recruits are stepping into vital roles of public trust, according to the FDNY Foundation. Chief Miano noted that every graduate had agreed to take on greater civic responsibility in joining the department's ranks.
A System Under Strain
Cothias steps into a job with heavy demands. FDNY EMS crews respond to more than 1.5 million medical emergencies annually citywide, handling roughly 4,000 to 5,000 dispatches a day across the five boroughs, according to CBS News. That volume has coincided with slower response times: citywide response for life-threatening emergencies stretched to 11 minutes and 21 seconds in fiscal year 2025, up from 9 minutes and 34 seconds in fiscal year 2021, as Hoodline previously reported, citing the Mayor's Management Report.
Pay remains a flashpoint too. Starting base salary for a probationary EMT sits at around $39,386 a year, or roughly $18.94 an hour, a figure labor leaders point to as a driver of high attrition and a reason for ongoing union pushes toward wage parity with fire suppression personnel. New EMTs like Cothias are entering the field even as officials and advocates continue debating how to keep experienced medics from burning out and leaving.
Cothias's graduation follows a similarly framed milestone from earlier this summer, when the department swore in 235 rookie firefighters ahead of the same September anniversary. Both ceremonies reflect an agency working to rebuild its ranks at a moment freighted with historical weight, even as EMS workers navigate a stretched, high-volume 911 system.
