Matt Giacopelli

My name is Matt Giacopelli, I grew up in Queens and Huntington, Long Island. I started in EMS as a Cadet at SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx, serving as a volunteer on the campus Rescue Squad and at Throggs Neck Volunteer Ambulance Corps. It was at Maritime my sophomore year when a bout of depression nearly led me to jump from my 6th floor dorm window.
Graduating in 1996 with a degree in Meteorology and Oceanography, and a Third Mate's license, I sailed on commercial ships for a few years before I came ashore and made EMS a career.
I worked at a few private agencies out on Long Island before being hired by Stony Brook University Hospital EMS in 1999. That same year, I entered Stony Brook's Paramedic Program and graduated in June of 2000. I worked at Stony Brook, becoming a Flight Medic there, until 2010 when we moved to York County, Pennsylvania. Currently, I’m a full time paramedic for York Regional EMS and work part time at Southern York County EMS.
Starting in 2008, I have been a JEMS Games Volunteer/judge at the annual EMS Today Conference. Since fall of 2018, I have channeled my mental health challenges from college into a live talk called "The Night I Almost Jumped: EMS Culture and EMS Suicide". This has been given at a handful of conferences and continuing education sessions in hopes that I can spread the message that it's okay to not be okay, and it's okay to talk about our mental health.