Promotion, Praise for New York EMS Hero

At a ceremony at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn, Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta praised Steven Cuevas, a 13-year-veteran.

"If he's at all representative of the rest of this group, then we are in the hands of some knowledgeable, hardworking, cool-headed professionals," Scoppetta said.

Cuevas ditched the notion of becoming a doctor because he loved the immediacy of helping people in crises.

"Paramedics are the doctors of the street. We have an emergency room in our bags," Cuevas said. "We have all the tools they have in an emergency room in a backpack-sized bag."

Cuevas has delivered a dozen babies and received accolades for saving numerous lives.

"We have a lot of saves, and a lot of tragedies. Seeing so much life, that's what keeps us going," he said.