Back To The Future

[Dustdevil]

Good article from our smart, but misguided friend at the Memphis Fire Department. Be sure to read the full article, as well as my comment, as the JEMS.com site. Please feel free to leave your own comments there too.

http://www.jems.com/news_and_articles/arti...m_the_past.html

Here's a brief snippet:

If an EMS provider from the early 1900s were to get a glimpse of 2009, they would probably be most enchanted by modern medicine. EMS has changed a lot since the National Academy of Sciences published the white paper, "Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society," in 1966. In fact, the phrase "emergency medical services" didn’t even exist yet. And neither did emergency medical technicians or paramedics.

I’d break the news to them that the name "ambulance driver" is no longer fashionable, and people in EMS actually get a little peeved when they’re called that. After they calmed down, I’d recount all the advancements in prehospital care and medicine in general—MRIs, cath labs, gene therapy, chemotherapy, and the vast array of medicines and vaccines available today. The best part would be watching their facial expression when I explained Viagra.

Transportation and equipment have come a long way as well. In the 1960s, they drove those old-style Cadillacs you see in pictures or sadly find sitting in junkyards these days. Those ambulances had limited head room for the attendant in the patient compartment and were usually equipped with just a stretcher, a kit and maybe an oxygen bottle. They would be amazed at how large the rear compartment of the ambulance has become, and how fully stocked the interior and exterior compartments are. They’d probably ask, wide-eyed, "What do you do with all this stuff?"

Edited April 23, 2009 by Dustdevil

[Chief1C]

Your comments are absolutely correct, there's no way around that. I love to read and just go through the history or time line of how EMS came to be. So, I was excited when I clicked the link. But I see it as more of something that would be written for the public, rather than an EMS audience. But, none the less, however much progress, or none at all, I have a lot of respect for the old timers. Like you j/k. Anyhoo, if there's anything to admire, maybe it's the technology. We can apply a resuscitator today, with the same or better results, and less than 5lbs of equipment. My E&J, top of the line 60 years ago, with it's tanks. If I lifted it above my waist, it would probably fall through the floor.

[CBEMT]

Meh. I stopped paying attention to Ludwig when he endorsed the "paramedics, paramedics everywhere" concept of EMS.