I wanted to take a moment to share my thanks with you all as we mark the 50th Anniversary EMS week in the US. I truly appreciate the difficult work you do every day in our community and especially want to recognize the care, professionalism, and human compassion you bring to our patients in their time of need. 

This year’s EMS Week theme is “Honoring our past and forging our future.” Last week I had the privilege to attend a ceremony in Pittsburgh honoring the members of Freedom House. If you are not familiar with the Freedom House story, this is a group of individuals credited with defining our modern understanding of EMS in this country. Before the show Emergency or Johnny and Roy brought the idea to the public, they truly became the first “EMTs” in this country. Under the vision of Dr. Peter Safar, known as the father of modern CPR, and with leadership from their first Medical Director Dr. Nancy Caroline, whose training course developed for Freedom House was later adopted by NHTSA as the first EMS curriculum, they pioneered the idea of taking advanced care to the scene. At the ceremony I heard Chief John Moon (ret.) of Pittsburgh EMS, who I had the honor of working with while I was a resident, describe his experience as a member of Freedom House including performing what is recognized as the first prehospital intubation in the US in 1972. Hearing his words reminded me of how young our subspecialty is, reinforced the enormous impact we make in our communities, and inspired me to think of what our future could look like. 

Thank you again for all you do. I hope you will join me this week in honoring those like Chief Moon and the entire Freedom House team on whose shoulders we stand. I look forward to continuing to do my best to support your practice and working together with you to forge the future of EMS.      

-Dr. Jameson