EMT response 'tremendous'

April 19--Remarkably quick-thinking emergency medical technicians needed only 18 minutes to get all the bombing victims off of shrapnel-scarred Boylston Street Monday afternoon, the crew's immensely proud boss said yesterday.

"It all worked," Boston Emergency Medical Services Chief James "Jimmy" Hooley said about his staff, which has been roundly praised for bravery and professionalism in the wake of the dual bombings near the Boston Marathon finish line.

"The response, the selflessness, and not being afraid to put yourself in danger -- our guys did an unbelievable job," Hooley said.

Three people died and more than 170 were injured in the terrifying assault but trauma surgeons credit city first responders for keeping the sad casualty count so low.

"They deserve tremendous credit," Brigham and Women's Hospital trauma center director Dr. Jonathan Gates said. "They recognized the injuries and treated them aggressively."

Hooley said his 340-member crew is well-trained in rapid assessment.

"They told people who were able to walk, 'Keep walking, to the medical tent.' That way, our guys were freed up to run to the people on the ground, people who were unconscious, incapacitated, unable to walk," he said. "They're the ones that need the operating rooms and the surgeons."

Then the crew color-coded the patients by injuries, with "red" for those who were worst off.

"The dispatchers at police headquarters have a list of all the care capabilities, so they knew which patients had to go where," said Hooley, a Dorchester native who joined the city crew 35 years ago. He became chief three years ago.

"It was like, 'Take these two reds to Mass General. The next two go to the Beth Israel,' " he said. "That way, no one hospital got chewed up."

Emergency workers who honed their skills on the battlefield were especially angry to see the carnage here at home, he said.

"One of the guys said to me, 'I thought what I was doing over there was worthwhile, because I was preventing that from happening here,' " Hooley said.

Today, he's most impressed that the crew got it done, in 18 minutes, all without knowing if another bomb was set to blow.

"They ran in there to get people off Bolyston Street, even though there was no reason to think there weren't more bombs," he said. "They took a calculated risk. They knew they had to get those patients out of there."

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