EMT
FDNY EMS
Queens, NY
Age: 23
Last Call: 04/24/2020
Circumstances: Suicide
John was just 23 years old when he entered the FDNY EMS academy at Fort Totten in Bayside, Queens. He was assigned to a Tactical Response Unit in the Bronx, and in this case, he was thrust into the grim early months of the pandemic soon after he left the EMS academy, and the work took a heavy toll. He expressed his feelings to his mom that he had a hard time facing the families of people who had cardiac arrested in their homes, and that he couldn’t bring them back, that’s not what he learned in the Academy. He learned how to save lives. That was what was really bothering him.
Fellow FDNY EMS Academy graduates described Mondello as always peppy, and very happy, another graduate said that John had reached out to him and said that he didn’t like his new job. He had been a football player, an actor, and a musician in high school. At LaGuardia Community College, he majored in theater. But the Emergency Medical Service was his calling. John was a beautiful person, with a lot of empathy, with a big heart. He leaves behind a loving family and friends.