
The first EMS model was basically a scoop and run type service. By virtue, the model was based on the trauma victim needs to get to a hospital in a timely manner. The training was very minimal and included some very basic first aid skills that may compare to what is taught in some current babysitting classes today. The current standard first aid classes taught by the American Red Cross and National Safety Institute are much more comprehensive than the training received by the original “scoop and run” first responders of the late 1960. Almost as much time was spent on driving skills as it was on first aid and medical skills, and most EMS workers were considered “Ambulance Drivers”.
In the mid 1970s the focus shifted to what could be done for the medical patients. The training started to increase on the application of rendering care to the ill as well as the injured. The first pilot programs of where the current paramedic programs stemmed from were launched in Miami, Los Angeles and Seattle. These early pioneers had a very restrictive protocol. Each call, the paramedic would have to call the hospital and receive order to do some very basic first aid skills such as place the patient on oxygen. This “Mother May I” type of EMS delivery continued for well over a decade.

Next article……EMS 1980 to Present Day.