Patrick ‘Paddy’ Travers, 39, a resident of Belview Hospital, died July 7, 1901, as a result of injuries sustained in the= line-of-duty when his ambulance crashed on the way to an emergency in October of 1883.
He spent the subsequent 15 years hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital. He was deemed the hospital’s “oldest patient.”
“From the time he sported his first pair of knickerbockers all he thought of was the ambulance which went in and out of the big gates (of Bellevue). When he grew to be fleet enough of the foot to follow the horses he would hop on to the ambulances and neither the drivers or doctors could rid of him until he saw a sick person in it. As he grew, it became his sole ambition to become an ambulance driver. He trained for the job by piloting through the East Side coal carts, undertakers wagons or any other vehicle on which he could get a chance to take hold of the reins. He made it a point to drive as many hurry calls as possible. Attempting to beat a fire truck to a call, his ambulance crashed into the fire vehicle. This collision caused him to have a leg injury and spinal injury which caused him to spend the rest of his years in the hospital he so faithfully served.” — according to a publication from 1901.