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The Central Park Medical Unit is Participating on CSI:NY Learn More About Them

On Tonight's episode of CSI: NY, Dr. Sheldon Hawkes volunteers for the Central Park Medical Unit. So what exactly is the CPMU and what do they do?

The Central Park Medical Unit. reflects the best of big City New York and small town volunteerism in the greatest city on earth. The CPMU is a uniformed force of more than 150 skilled Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics and Physicians who give freely of their time and medical talents, but do it in the heart of New York City that occasionally has all the chaos and pandemonium of a war zone. CPMU volunteers respond to thousands of traumatic and medical emergencies each year; all within the 843 bucolic acres of Central Park. The CPMU’s home turf is world’s busiest park, where more than 25 million visitors from the city and around the globe mingle, relax, and compete on its drives and playing fields. Central Park is the place that city residents, including corporations, can proudly claim as their backyard.

New York’s First Response

The Central Park Medical Unit has been the park’s front line emergency medical response team for 34 years. During that time CPMU volunteers have provided medical care during some the largest and most prestigious events in the world, including the New York City Marathon, the Goodwill Games, the Opera, the Philharmonic, the Paul Simon Concert, the visits of the Pope and of the Dalai Lama, The Race For The Cure and Corporate Challenge races, to name only a few.

The CPMU is also a vital safety net for the children of the City who play the Park and a lifesaving resource for the competitive runners and organized softball players who use the Central Park as a release from the pressures of the city life.

The CPMU provides services to everyone in need regardless of their ability to pay. The CPMU is a non-profit 501-C-3 organization that charges no fee for medical treatment or transport. The same service would routinely cost $840.00 or more with a typical ambulance service. The Medical Unit transports more than 1,000 patients per year in addition to the 2,000 plus patients it treats and releases on scene. That represents more than $2,500,000.00 in free medical care to the Central Park community each year.

Valuable Skills and Vital Tools

All of the CPMU's volunteers are state certified medical responders who constantly train and hone of their skills. In their normal lives, they are doctors, lawyers, journalists, corporate officers, actors, hospital administrators and medical students. They bring to their volunteer medical mission uncommon discipline, compassion and expertise. If these volunteers were paid the going rate for their medical services in New York City it would exceed $300,000.00 per year.

The Central Park Medical Unit has three ambulances, all complete with state-of-the-art medical technology and equipment including defibrillators. They operate an innovative medics-on-bikes program in which volunteers respond to calls on mountain bikes, giving them astounding mobility in the park’s more rugged terrain and in dense crowd’s at large events.

New York City has the finest emergency rooms in the world, but until an ambulance arrives on the scene, lives are at risk. CPMU volunteers know every nook and cranny of Central Park and so our ambulances and medical personnel can routinely get to a stricken New Yorker in under 3 minutes whether he is a patron at Tavern on the Green in cardiac arrest or a young asthma victim at the Harlem Meer. Those 3 minutes is a New York State record response time that often spells the difference between life and death.

The Central Park Medical Unit is also on-call to the larger community in times of crisis. During the blackout at the height of the summers of 1999 and 2003 they operated around the clock. CPMU was there at the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001 and were on the scene of the American Airlines Flight 587 disaster. Whenever a major crisis occurs in the region, CPMU responds.

The CPMU has earned high praise from the Parks and Police Departments and have been repeatedly recognized by New York City mayors, the Central Park Community Council, and the media for our life saving efforts and the role they play in making Central Park a secure and enjoyable backyard for millions of New Yorkers and visitors from around the world.

The CPMU accepts donations in any amount, every dollar of which goes directly to the operation of their life-saving efforts. No portion of any donation is used for administrative overhead. To learn more, please visit the Central Park Medical Unit’s website at www.cpmu.com or see their YouTube video.



Read more about Hill Harper and the CPMU in the NY Daily News article.



Here are some additional resources

Hillsborough County Citizen Corps
Volunteer Citizen’s Patrol program is very active. In one Quarter (three months) 77 members staffed 19 School Crossings, Conducted: 1285 School Checks, 100 Directed Patrol Activities (vacation and foreclosure house checks), Responded to 27 Road Obstructions, 78 Motorist Assist, 13 Suspicious Vehicles Reported, 112 Patrol Assist (directing traffic at crashes) and 2016 Citizen contacts and 694 Business Contacts. 3245 Volunteer Hours Contributed.

Citizen Corps / JaxCERT
Recently recognized with National Award from FEMA in Citizen Preparedness. The County created the Business Emergency Response Team Program modeled after the CERT program. They have trained employees of many local business including Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Wachovia on responding to disasters in the workplace environment.

Miami Dade Citizen Corps
Miami Dade has a very active Citizen Corps Program. The County has 36 different Municipalities which they have brought together under the Urban Area Security Initiative for a preparedness symposium. The have 24 active CERT teams, organized by Zip Codes, includes teams for the University of Miami, Macy’s Department Stores, and St. Thomas University. The Crime Watch program works closely with the police department to assist residents and businesses in conducting “crime resistant design” audits in an effort to recommend changes to structures to reduce crime.

Orange County Citizen Corps
Programs: CERT, Neighborhood Watch, Citizen on Patrol, Medical Reserve Corps)
One of the largest and most active CERT, Neighborhood Watch, Citizen on Patrol in the State. They have historically have conducted annual CERT exercises in partnership with Universal Studios and Disney Theme Parks. Additionally they conduct multiple drills throughout the year. Orange County has 30 active teams with over 500 members trained in CERT.

Santa Rosa County Citizen Corps
This program has a strong partnership with County Emergency Management, Community Organization Active in Disaster and Safer Santa Rosa. The Teen CERT Program at Pace High School was nationally recognized through their Train-The-Trainer course. Youth focus is used as a strategy to build lasting local capacity and in instilling individual responsibility for disaster preparedness.

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