Date Posted:  May 14, 1999

COLUMBUS, OHIO (May 14, 1999) -- EMS Week is May 16-22, 1999, Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Maureen O’Connor announced today.

“This year EMS is celebrating its Silver Anniversary.  Twenty-five years ago, President Gerald Ford signed the first official National Emergency Medical Services Week proclamation.  We hope all Ohio communities will recognize the importance of the men and women who dedicate themselves to saving the lives of others and to educating the public about how and when to utilize EMS services,” O’Connor said.

EMS Week is the ideal time to highlight how EMS makes a crucial difference in the lives of Americans and to raise support essential to its future.  EMS is a vital public service, as important to your community as the police or fire department.

Emergency medical services is a system of care for victims of sudden and serious illness or injury.  This system depends on the availability and coordination of many different elements, ranging from an informed public capable of recognizing medical emergencies to a network of trauma centers capable of providing highly specialized care to the most seriously ill or injured.

 “In 1966, Congress passed legislation enabling the creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), setting the stage for the first federal standards in EMS.  In the thirty years since, the efforts of EMS providers at all levels have helped make our EMS system the most advanced in the world,” said O’Connor.