Paws N Claws 911 is owned and operated by Tom Rinelli, a thirty plus year seasoned veteran of pre-hospital emergency medical services. Serving as a New York State certified emergency medical care provider, Tom has extensive field experience in both urban and suburban settings having been assigned to high crime, high call volume response areas in the New York City and Long Island regions for over twenty years. 

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With a background providing training in the classroom setting as well as a field training instructor and preceptor, Tom has received numerous life saving awards, commendations and other accolades. In 2012, he was honored by the Suffolk County Regional EMS Council with the "EMS Leadership Award for 2011" for the creation, development and moderation of an innovative in-house training program that trained over sixty new field providers in a two year period while maintaining a 100% pass rate for those who sought certification as a New York State Emergency Medical Technician.

Present day, he is responsible for the creation, development and moderation of an in-house study group for probationary (rookie) firefighters that maintains a 100% pass rate for those taking the 

written portion of their Firefighter 1 certification.  

 

Tom, as a lifelong dog lover/owner has taken his vast education, training and field experience as a seasoned pre-hospital emergency medical care provider and educator treating two legged patients to four legged patients by adapting his highly interactive, hands-on teaching style to educate pet parents and pet care professionals in

the techniques of Pet CPR and First Aid. To date, Tom has trained 10,000 students around the world (primarily in-person) including pet parents, pet care professionals, animal rescue volunteers and fellow emergency service personnel (including members of the United States Coast Guard's Maritime Safety & Security Team).   

 

When teaching CPR & First Aid be it for humans or pets, I am

often told by students of an experience where they encountered an emergency situation (person choking, a pet having a seizure) and

felt helpless not knowing what to do to help. As an experienced

pre-hospital emergency medical care provider, I too felt this sense

of helplessness when my dog Jake developed life threatening

thyroid cancer in 2008 and required surgery (which was beyond my scope of practice). With this in mind, I established Paws N Claws 911 to educate, train and empower pet parents, pet care professionals and those charged with the care of pets so that you WILL know what to do in an emergency and will NEVER

feel helpless again. On a positive note, Jake successfully recovered

from the surgery (and a subsequent bout with cancer in 2015)

and enjoyed "the good life" happy and healthy until crossing 

"The Rainbow Bridge" at age 15 in 2016.  

 

Experience the difference being taught by an instructor with thirty plus years field experience both administering and teaching these

life saving skills in an emergency. There is no substitute for

real world experience!