If you’ve ever found yourself in a sticky situation, you know the importance of emergency
medical service (EMS) professionals. When tragedy or disaster strikes, they are the first on the scene. They provide life-saving care and build a critical bridge between the scene of an accident and our hospitals, doctors and nurses.
This week, we are honoring the individuals who provide emergency medical services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response issued a statement on Monday:
…Over the past century, the field of emergency medical services has grown from hospital
interns who rode in horse-drawn carriages transporting the sick and injured in a few cities during the 1800s. Today our nation draws on diverse network of nearly a million EMS physicians, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, dispatchers, and support staff in every community. With each passing year, EMS has demonstrated increasing importance in our nation’s health care system.
EMS practitioners serve our nation in its darkest hours and at a moment’s notice. In recent months, they provided care after a deadly mudslide in Washington state, in the aftermath of a tornado in Arkansas, and when a gunman opened fire in a Navy facility in Washington, D.C. EMS practitioners work just as diligently to protect health and save lives in every American town and city every day in emergencies large or small.
To read the complete statement, follow this link.
Here in Olympia, we couldn’t agree more. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our EMS professionals – including our very own Rep. Kevin Van De Wege. When Kevin isn’t serving the Olympic Peninsula in our state’s capitol, he works as a firefighter in Clallam County.
We encourage you to take a few minutes to thank your favorite EMS professional not just today or tomorrow or the next day – but really any day of the year.