Four Decades of Service

The first issue of EMS World Magazine debuted in November 1972 under the name Emergency Medical Services: The Journal of Emergency Care and Transportation. Publisher Carol Summer wrote at the time that “the decade ahead looks like the time of show and tell for emergency medical services. There is only one realistic way to describe the future–MORE. There will be more thought, more planning, more conferring, more legislation and more money. There will also be more headaches, more confusion, more frustration and ultimately more cooperation and joint work.” Those headaches and frustration, cooperation and joint work have extended far beyond the 1970s; in fact, those words describe the EMS profession over the past 40 years. We are incredibly proud that EMS World Magazine has documented that history in such detail, as well as worked to define the future of prehospital medicine.

During our 40th anniversary celebrations this year, we will take a journey through our archives, highlighting key articles we have published over the past four decades and those monumental events that have shaped the development of EMS. We also hope to share some of your stories about your journeys in EMS and where we believe the profession is heading.

40 Years and Ticking

There are a couple of things in my life that serve to continually remind me that I am aging. First off, I am now educating the children of my former paramedic students. Next, I am celebrating the same number of years in EMS as EMS World Magazine. Geez...

Over the course of the next year, I will be writing four “special” versions of my Beyond the Books column, looking at some of the many mile markers I’ve watched go by over the course of the last four decades.

As I was breaking bread with a couple of friends recently I made the comment, “I can’t believe that I’ve been in EMS for 40 years!” My friend replied, “Of course you can’t, because you enjoy what you do, time flies.” Given that I have been paid to go to work and do something I enjoy for 40 years, his logic may well be on point. Please join me over the next year as I backtrack in time and continue to have fun. —Mike Smith, BS, MICP, EMS World Editorial Advisory Board

The Last Five Years
EMS World Magazine’s 35th anniversary review of EMS history, published in 2007, took a decade-by-decade look at our field’s growth to that time. The decade of the aughts seemed to be winding down then, but it had a few more surprises in store.

December 2007 was the officially credited start of the “Great Recession,” from which we are only now, perhaps, taking a few baby steps toward recovery. Financial woes besieged the nation and circled the globe, forcing governments and citizens into a new austerity and unprecedented steps to trim costs. Public safety, once untouchable, came to the chopping block in many locales. Those tight times persist and don’t look to be changing soon.

In 2009 the anticipated National EMS Education Standards were released; the makeover of U.S. EMS education continues today. Also that year, a new strain of H1N1 influenza arose in Mexico and grew into a global pandemic. It may have killed as many as 18,000 in the U.S., according to the CDC, but even so was not as deadly as many feared.

It’s far too early to begin considering landmark events of the current decade, but for EMS it certainly got off to an active start, with the passage of ambitious healthcare reform and revamped CPR guidelines from the AHA in 2010. Things promise to remain just as interesting in the future; be sure to stay with us to see how it all plays out. Click here to access the timeline.

EMS Hall of Fame

EMS World Magazine has featured thousands of articles authored by many different people. Some of the famous EMSers who have appeared in these pages include Nancy Caroline, James O. Page, Eugene Nagel, R Adams Cowley, David Boyd, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Ronald Stewart, Henry Heimlich and Roger White.

EMS World Stats
We have published 390 issues of EMS World Magazine. This month’s issue is no. 391.
The First Annual Buyer’s Guide was published in Nov. 1977.
At its launch, EMS World Magazine was published six times a year. Our publishing frequency increased to seven issues in 1981, 10 issues in 1986, 11 issues in 1988 and finally to 12 issues a year in 1990.

Association Anniversaries
EMS World is not alone in celebrating several decades of service to EMS:
National Registry of EMTs: Founded 1970
National Association of EMTs: Founded 1975
American Ambulance Association: Founded 1979
National Association of State EMS Officials: Founded 1980
National Association of EMS Physicians: Founded 1984

The Future of EMS, July/August 1973

This is an excerpt from an article by John Hanlon, MD, Assistant Surgeon General, Public Health Services Special Assistant to the Adminstration, HSMHA. Click here to read the complete article.

One of the most encouraging and significant happenings at present is the establishment of emergency medical services as a high-priority issue. We have come to the realization that any really effective healthcare system has to include a comprehensive emergency care system.

So much is happening in both the public and private sectors that it is difficult to keep informed up to the minute. This has been a banner year for emergency health services in this country. In January 1972, the President, in his State of the Union message, directed the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to be the lead agency in the development of new ways of organizing and providing comprehensive emergency medical care. This directive has resulted in the initiation by DHEW of a coordinated federal approach to meeting the problem.

In February 1972, an EMS Special Project Office was activated under the Administrator of the Health Services and Mental Health Administration. The ultimate goal of the Special Project Office is eventually to assure to all citizens of the United States access to quality emergency medical care in a system that is related to the community’s healthcare delivery system.