A History Lesson

     When EMS Magazine was launched in November 1972, the EMS industry was a mere babe. Reviewing early issues of the magazine, it seemed like an exciting time to be involved in prehospital care. Many articles were authored by physicians who had an obvious passion for this developing form of healthcare and who were actively committed to taking EMS by the hand and leading it into the future. However, when you see the topics covered during our first year of publication, it is somewhat disconcerting to find that many of them are familiar friends: the role of the federal government in EMS, regionalization, communications problems, fire department-based EMS system conflicts and ambulance safety issues. If we are to learn anything from our history, it could be that while we have made great advances in the technology used to deliver prehospital care, we remain as divided and lost on many systems-related issues as we were 35 years ago. We are still debating whether EMS belongs in the fire service, who should be responsible for overseeing EMS in the federal goverment and states' rights versus Big Brother oversight. The list goes on and on.

     The one thing that has remained constant during this time is our commitment to cover these hot-button issues in the magazine and document major events and changes in EMS in order to produce a living history within these pages. As we move into 2008, we will expand our coverage of critical industry issues with our EMS Summit newsletter, while also continuing to write about issues that impact providers on a daily basis. In addition, we will work to provide online access to our magazine archives so that everyone can share the wealth of information we have created over the last 35 years.

     Happy Anniversary, EMS Magazine!