28: Anthony Tucci

Paramedic

Anthony Tucci, Paramedic at Western Berks Ambulance, saw over 200 people with covid. Working at least 70 hours a week, he was on the front line of the illness. 

He is chief of the Berks EMS Covid task force which worked to ensure that paramedics in Berks county had enough PPE. The primary goal of the task force is to keep all Berks county paramedics as safe as possible. 

Unfortunately, he knew 3 EMS providers who died from covid. In addition to that loss, he cites isolation and lack of interaction as increasing the stress of his work.

He explained that over the last year and a half, he came to accept that although we cannot control situations, we can learn to adapt to situations. 

He was grateful that EMS workers came together as one group to share information and support one another. He states, “My hope for the future is that people accept the differences in one another to get along and learn to agree to disagree.”