Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
An emergency medical technician is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and some part-time departments require their firefighters to be EMT certified.
A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency. First responders typically include law enforcement officers, emergency medical services members, fire service members and Public Works employees such as Heavy Equipment Operators as well as Public Works Tree Department personnel. In some jurisdictions, emergency department personnel, such as doctors and nurses, are also required to respond to disasters and critical situations, designating them first responders; in other jurisdictions, military and security forces may also be authorized to act as first responders.
The Seattle & King County Emergency Medical Services System is a fire-based two-tier response system providing prehospital basic and advanced life support services.
A medical director is a physician who provides guidance and leadership on the use of medicine in a healthcare organization. These include the emergency medical services, hospital departments, blood banks, clinical teaching services, and others. A medical director devises the protocols and guidelines for the clinical staff and evaluates them while they are in use.
The Arlington County Fire Department (ACFD) provides fire, emergency medical, and allied public safety services for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church in Virginia, USA. It is highly regarded within the profession as an innovator and leader in enhancing the industry. Among its many firsts are the hiring of the first female career firefighter in the world in 1974 and partnering with the United States Public Health Service to develop America's first Metropolitan Medical Strike Team to respond to the consequences of a chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attack.
In the United States, the paramedic is an allied health professional whose primary focus is to provide advanced emergency medical care for patients who access Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This individual possesses the complex knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient care and transportation. Paramedics function as part of a comprehensive EMS response under physician medical direction. Paramedics often serve in a prehospital role, responding to Public safety answering point (9-1-1) calls in an ambulance. The paramedic serves as the initial entry point into the health care system. A standard requirement for state licensure involves successful completion of a nationally accredited Paramedic program at the certificate or associate degree level.
Virtual Heroes, Inc. is a developer of serious games in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. It was founded in 2004.
Acadian Ambulance is an employee-owner private ambulance service that covers most of the state of Louisiana, a large portion of Texas, two counties in Tennessee, and one county in Mississippi. In 1995 it was recognized as the largest privately owned ambulance service in the United States. Today the company responds to emergency and non-emergency calls in Louisiana; Southeast, Central, and North Texas; Jackson County, Mississippi; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee.
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Cypress Creek Emergency Medical ServicesAssociation, also known as Cypress Creek EMS (CCEMS) was a private, non-profit emergency medical service provider for Harris County ESD 11 in North Harris County, within greater Houston, Texas. In 2021, CCEMS declared bankruptcy and operations ceased in mid 2022. In late 2022, the remaining assets, branding, and trademarks were bought by Viking Enterprises, DBA City Ambulance Service. All ambulances in use by CCEMS are Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU), with at least one Paramedic, making all ambulances ALS units. Cypress Creek EMS provided 911 service in North Harris County, provided bicycle medic teams for special events, provided tactical EMS support for federal, state, and local law enforcement, and operated an accredited educational institution.
UCLA Emergency Medical Services (UCLA EMS) is a student-run Emergency Medical Services organization at the University of California, Los Angeles. Part of the University of California Police Department (UCPD), UCLA EMS provides 9-1-1 emergency medical response to the UCLA campus and surrounding areas 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each year, UCLA EMS responds to over 1,700 calls for medical aid, making it one of the busiest collegiate EMS agencies in the nation.
Grady EMS is an emergency care provider owned by Grady Healthcare System, established in 1892 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians is a US certification agency covering prehospital medical providers.
Emergency medical responders (EMRs) are people who are specially trained to provide out-of-hospital care in medical emergencies, typically before the arrival of an ambulance. Specifically used, an emergency medical responder is an EMS certification level used to describe a level of EMS provider below that of an emergency medical technician and paramedic. However, the EMR is not intended to replace the roles of such providers and their wide range of specialties.
Emergency medical services in Israel are provided by the Magen David Adom (MDA) organization, and in some places by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The phone number to call for an ambulance is 101
The Dutchess County Department Of Emergency Response has the responsibility of governing Emergency operations in Dutchess County, New York. This encompasses Police, Fire and EMS.
New Orleans Emergency Medical Services is the primary provider of advanced life support emergency medical services to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Unlike most other emergency medical services in the United States, New Orleans EMS operates as a third service and is not part of the New Orleans Fire Department; rather, New Orleans EMS is operated by the New Orleans Health Department and the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
The ADMS is an emergency and disaster management training simulation system designed to train incident commanders, first responders, and incident command teams in a real-time, interactive virtual reality environment. ADMS was first introduced by Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETCC:US) in 1992. The development of ADMS was in response to the crash of British Airtours Flight 28M at the Manchester airport in 1985, in which 55 people died. Following the accident research indicated that first responder training should include realistic scenarios. The first ADMS system was produced for the UK Ministry of Defence, and delivered to Royal Air Force's (RAF) Manston Facility. Since its inception, ADMS has evolved into a modular, expandable disaster simulation platform, with systems in use worldwide.
The New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services is a division of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in charge of emergency medical services for New York City. It was established on March 17, 1996, following the merger of the FDNY and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation's emergency medical services division. FDNY EMS provides coverage of all five boroughs of New York City with ambulances and a variety of specialized response vehicles.
