EMS Week Trivia… Historical Facts

It was 45 years ago when President Ford signed the first EMS Week proclamation, designating a time for the nation to celebrate the EMT and paramedic as well as an opportunity to educate the public about the critical role of EMS in the community.  A lot has changed since President Ford first recognized the importance of EMS.  Here is historical data outlining the roots and changes of EMS…

Did you Know…

• 1500 B.C. – The development of EMS has been based on tradition and, to some extent, on scientific knowledge.  Its roots are deep in history. For example, the Good Samaritan bound the injured traveler’s wounds with oil and wine at the side of the road, and evidence of treatment protocols exist.
• 1732 – The first recorded use of mouth-to-mouth ventilation, involving a coal miner in Dublin.
• 1797 – Although the Romans and Greeks used chariots to remove injured soldiers from the battlefield, most credit Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, chief physician in Napoleon’s army, with institution of the first pre-hospital system designed to triage and transport the injured from the field to aid stations.
• 1865 & 1869 – Civilian ambulance services in the United States began in Cincinnati and New York City, respectively. Hospital interns rode in horse drawn carriages designed specifically for transporting the sick and injured.
• 1922 – The first volunteer rescue squads organized in Roanoke, Virginia, and along the New Jersey coast. Gradually, especially during and after World War II, hospitals and physicians faded from pre-hospital practice, yielding in urban areas to centrally coordinated programs. These were often controlled by the municipal hospital or fire department, whose use of “inhalators” was met with widespread public acceptance. Sporadically, funeral home hearses, which had been the common mode of transport, were being replaced by fire department, rescue squad and private ambulances.
• 1960 – Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was shown to be efficacious. Shortly thereafter, model EMS programs were developed based on successes in Belfast, where hospital-based mobile coronary care unit ambulances were being used to treat pre-hospital cardiac patients. American systems relied on fire department personnel trained in the techniques of cardiac resuscitation. These new modernized EMS systems spurred success stories from cities such as Columbus, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Miami.
• 1966 – The famous white paper “Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society” prepared by the Committee on Trauma and Committee on Shock of the National Academy of Sciences— National Research Council, provided great impetus for attention to be turned to the development of EMS. This document pointed out that the American health care system wasn’t prepared to address an injury epidemic that was the leading cause of death among persons between the ages of 1 and 37. It noted that, in most cases, ambulances were inappropriately designed, ill-equipped, and staffed with inadequately trained personnel; and that at least 50% of the nation’s ambulance services were being provided by 12,000 morticians.
• 1967 – The American Ambulance Association publishes an article that states that as many as 25,000 Americans are either crippled or left permanently disabled as a result of the efforts of untrained or poorly trained ambulance personnel.
• 1968 – The state’s EMS Unit was created under the leadership of Joseph Salzmann. Originally, this group of dedicated staff coordinated all EMT training in the state, with local physicians and other professionals providing the training. While training was not mandated by law until 1974, a large number of ambulance attendants completed the 81-hour DOT-approved course voluntarily.
• 1969 – The first nationally recognized training course for EMTs was held in Wausau, Wisconsin as a test site for the new DOT curriculum. The physician coordinator, Joseph D. ‘Deke’ Farrington was an EMS pioneer from Minocqua. Among his accomplishments, he promoted the use of extrication, invented the spine board and was responsible for the original 81-hour curriculum developed by Dunlap & Associates. He also encouraged many other physicians to become involved in EMS.
• 1972 – The Richland County Ambulance Association was formed in May of 1972.  Its purpose was to furnish well trained EMTs for the County’s ambulance service.  It started with one ambulance and 10 people willing to take the 81 hour course.
• 1987 – The Richland County Ambulance had 3 ambulances and 26 licensed EMTs. They were celebrating 15 years of service and boasted having 2 new heart monitors and a defibrillator unit as part of their equipment.
• 2007 – 6 Richland County EMTs pass the 90 hour Intermediate Technician Course, allowing the Richland County Ambulance Service to bring a higher level of care to the citizens and visitors of Richland County.
• 2013 – Richland County Ambulance Service has 8 licensed EMT Intermediate Technicians, 2 Paramedics, 10 EMT Basics, 6 drivers and 6 trainees and still maintains 3 ambulances and has responded to 324 calls this year.