Anthony Almojera is an FDNY EMS lieutenant and vice president of AFSCME DC37 Local 3621, the New York City Fire Department’s EMS officers’ union. He has been
profiled on the front page of the Washington Post and featured by CNN, Al Jazeera, USA Today, NPR, the BBC, and numerous other media outlets. Born in Brooklyn, he is a practicing Buddhist and works a third job as an on-site paramedic at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
His book, Riding the Lighting, is an intense look at the high-stakes world of a NYC paramedic in the months before and after COVID-19 altered our landscape. It chronicles his experiences during the worst part of the pandemic in the city, and his recovery from a deep depression, including a suicide attempt. Following one paramedic into hell and back, the book tracks the darkest days through the eyes of its frontline medical workers and the community they serve: ordinary people who will continue to make New York an extraordinary place long after it has been reborn from the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic.