#FDNY paramedic bitten on face by patient to keep working

A brave FDNY paramedic, savagely attacked by a crazed teenager who took a bite out of her face, said the bizarre encounter will not derail her career.

“I have a very deep passion for what I do,” Jenna Piscitello told The Post. “This incident isn’t going to ever stop from me continuing to be as compassionate as I am with people.”

But Piscitello, who’s been with the FDNY for seven years, admitted the bloody experience was “a little traumatizing.”

The attack happened early Friday in Brooklyn as Piscitello and her crew responded to a call for a patient with “altered mental status.”

Piscitello, 28, who started as an EMT and became a paramedic in 2019, said a 17-year-old girl was trying to run out of the house, and kept falling. But, she said, the teen was not threatening until first responders tried to get her onto a stretcher.

“She just wrapped her legs around my torso, her arms around my neck and just took a nice big chomp out of my face,” Piscitello recounted. “She was like on me for almost a minute. It felt like an eternity.”

She felt the teen “tugging at my face,” Piscitello said.

“The pain was like insane,” she said. “I literally felt her teeth going into my flesh. Like a saw just cutting into me.”

Piscitello didn’t realize how badly injured she was, and even continued to take care of the girl.

Then her partner looked at her said, “We’re getting another ambulance for you.”

The paramedic received four stitches at the hospital and is scheduled to see a plastic surgeon Monday, she said.

The teen was charged with assault in the second degree and assault with intent to cause physical injury, police and sources told The Post.

Piscitello, who lives on Staten Island, said there was swelling around her eye Saturday and that she was still in pain. She has been buoyed by the support of friends and family.

Two of her FDNY colleagues started a GoFundMe campaign to help her.

“I’m definitely going to take my time to recover,” she said. “Emotionally I think I’ll be OK after a few weeks.”