Honorees

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Year Honored
2014
Honoree
Carene Brown
Title
Paramedic
Agency
Fire Department of New York - Bureau of EMS
Agency City
Brooklyn
Agency State
New York
Last Call
12/22/2009
Cause of Death
9/11 Illness
Biography
Carene joined the New York City Emergency Medical Service in March of 1991. After she completed the EMS Academy she was assigned to Brooklyn where she served for 11 years. She served the people of New York with pride, dignity, and respect working some of the toughest city streets during a time referred to many as the "Crack Wars." She received many awards and recognition for her abilities and work. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Carene responded with thousands of rescue workers to the World Trade Center where hundreds of her coworkers and civilians would fall that day. She continued her work at the site, that would later become known as Ground Zero, for months to help recover her fallen comrades. As the recovery efforts drew to a close, she returned to the regular routine of EMS work. She was asked if she could help out in an EMT program that was being taught in Brooklyn and she jumped at the opportunity to work with her friend and fellow paramedic, Artie Lester. She found that she really enjoyed teaching and soon found herself an Instructor at the FDNY EMS academy. Students would say in the beginning of a new program how tough she was, and at the end of the program they would all say to her, "Thank you for being tough; I needed that." She was an excellent instructor who was able to lead, motivate, inspire, and see potential. A few years after operations at Ground Zero came to an end, Carene developed one of various cancers responsible for taking the lives of many of the rescuers with whom she worked hand in hand at the World Trade Center site. She succumbed to her illness on December 22, 2009.