Villager photos by Shoshanna Bettencourt

New ambulances are just what the doctor ordered

Last Friday, St. Vincent’s Hospital dedicated four new ambulances, which replace older vehicles in the Greenwich Village hospital’s 17-strong fleet. The new ambulances — or “buses” as police call them — feature G.P.S. tracking, allowing the Fire Department to monitor their location, roomier cabins and the latest portable electronic patient monitors. Above, Henry Amoroso, president and C.E.O. of St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, left, gave a commemorative mini St. Vincent’s ambulance to Susan Rohan and Vincent Rohan, vice president and president, respectively, of the May Ellen and Gerald Ritter Foundation, in honor of their funding of the purchase of one of the ambulances, which each cost about $150,000 after being fully equipped. Below, after Father Jim Rooney, St. Vincent’s chaplain, blessed the quartet of new ambulances with holy water, he also gave the hospital’s emergency medical technicians a surprise blessing. It was a lighthearted moment for the E.M.T.’s, many of whom were down at ground zero aiding the wounded on 9/11. In 1900, St. Vincent’s became the first U.S. hospital to use a motor-powered ambulance.