Leaders in the town of Catskill said Friday that regaining the public’s trust was the most important priority after a disturbing video made the rounds on social media.

As NewsChannel 13 reported earlier in the week, two now-former Catskill Ambulance workers are seen mocking and mistreating a patient on home security video. They agreed to part ways with the department after the video surfaced.

EMS and town leaders spoke exclusively to NewsChannel 13. The town’s Chief of EMS, George June, said he understood people’s reaction to the video.

“I was heartbroken. Absolutely heartbroken,” said June. “Because what people saw in that video was not what our service was about, and I can understand the visceral reaction to what they saw. Because I felt the same way. It was kind of like a gut punch to me.”

“The video made me sad, the way that patient was treated, and the way our employees were treating that patient,” Town Supervisor Patrick McCulloch said.

The video was taken last Friday. Tom Weygant, the patient seen on video, and his wife Rose called 911 when his blood sugar was high. Instead of help, he was met with the ex-employees mocking and downplaying his condition and letting him fall on the ambulance floor.  

Weygant was admitted to the hospital for several days.  

June and McCulloch together visited Weygant and apologized to him Friday.

“I was born and raised in this community. My EMS career started in this community,” said June. “My immediate family, all of my immediate family, still lives in this community. So I am fully invested in providing the best service that we can to this community, because it’s my face that leads the organization, it’s my reputation. So I’m going to do what we need to do to rebuild that trust and to make sure something like this never happens again.”

NewsChannel 13 asked June whether the behavior seen on video is indicative of a larger issue with the culture of the department. He said it was not.

“I don’t think it’s endemic of our organization as a whole. There are challenges that the EMS system faces. EMS is absolutely in crisis in New York state,” he said, while noting that employees regularly respond to calls for people with developmental and other disabilities with no other complaints reported.

NewsChannel 13 has reported on the difficulties with staffing, burnout and wait times that plague emergency medical services, all factors June said weigh on his 45 employees. Then add all the negativity he said has been directed at the department after the video spread on social media.

“They’re crestfallen, they’re devastated, and they know that there’s been irreparable harm done to our reputation, but we also know that we have to work hard to regain the public’s trust, and we are committed to that,” he said.

The department was looking into state funding for body cameras, which McCulloch and June said could help create transparency but also protect ambulance workers from abuse by patients that can happen. They are also looking at additional training, trying to better identify employee burnout and making it easier to report complaints on the department’s website.  

“Transparency has always been a key factor for me. If something’s going on within the town, the community needs to know exactly what the town board and our employees are doing to address that issue,” McCulloch said.

June himself notified the state Department of Health about the video. It opened an investigation.

NewsChannel 13 is not naming the former employees. They are not charged with a crime.

NewsChannel 13 reached out to law enforcement in Catskill to ask whether they were investigating, but had not heard back Friday.