Service Photos

In an age of high-tech phones, digital cameras and Facebook, you would think it would be easy to find a picture of someone when you need it. Yet, according to Kevin Agard, PIO for the National EMS Memorial Service, of the 26 EMS providers honored in 2010, there were no pictures for two and two other photos were of less-than-desirable quality.

"You'd be amazed how many people don't have current photos," says Agard. "People get hurt or killed in the line of duty, or even do something extraordinary and get an award, and they have nothing to present to the press."

If you're in the fire service or law enforcement, service photos are automatic, Agard adds, and all military personnel have a service photo in full-dress uniform standing next to a flag.

"When I was a cop in New York City, we called them 'death photos.' It was just something you had, and if something happened to you, they had a photo to use," he says.

"Our mortality is not something we like to think about," he says. "But in a digital age, there's no reason to not have pictures. This applies from the biggest EMS agency down to the smallest volunteer service. You don't need a professional photographer. You just need to invest in a $100 digital camera and take pictures of everybody. You don't even have to print them anymore. You just have to have them available in an electronic format for distribution should the need occur."

Agard says he can't think of a single reason for an agency to not have service photos and a ton of reasons why they should.

"I'm always amazed when we get people who die in their 50s and all the family can find is their high school yearbook photo. It shouldn't be up to the families," he says. "It should be up to the agency to supply a decent photo of every one of its members."