The National EMS Museum is dedicated to preserving and commemorating the history of the Emergency Medical Services in the United States. Please explore our virtual museum at your leisure. Exhibits can be navigated by choosing topics in the drop down menus and click on links provided within the text. Explore and get lost in the wonderful history of the Emergency Medical Services.
50th Anniversary message from Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez (CA)
The Legacy of California’s Emergency Medical Services
Since the early years of statehood, California has contributed to the national conversation on EMS and help set standards in patient care, education and legislation. As we start a year of celebrations in honor of the 50th year of formalized emergency medical services in the state, we invite you to celebrate with us!
This year we were slated to install a commemorative in-gallery exhibition to celebrate EMS and the lasting impact of the Wedworth-Townsend Paramedic Act of 1970. But in the spring of 2020, COVID-19 took hold in California (and across the US) and turned our commemorative physical exhibition into a digital one, we hope you enjoy the chance to celebrate our California based brothers and sisters as we work with museums across California to install the physical exhibition in the near future.
Thank you for attending our Virtual Opening Party! We hope you enjoy the exhibition.
Additional support from
A Look Back at Pandemics that Shaped US Emergency Response
“It is a fact that epidemics create cultural change. When you scare people this bad and hurt them this bad, either they fold or they innovate; there really isn’t a third path.” – Sharon Ann Holt, New Jersey Council for Humanities, 2011
From Smallpox to Influenza to HIV, our nation has faced microbial invaders head on over the past three centuries building resilience while improving emergency response policy and patient care procedures along the way. With a new pandemic taking hold in America, what lessons can the past offer us in combating our newest pandemic?
Join us for our Virtual Exhibit Opening on April 17 at 7pm Eastern time hosted through our Facebook Page (link below).
https://www.facebook.com/emsmuseum/live/
The Evolution of the Ambulance
Modern EMS was born in the back of an ambulance. Not only is it one of the most recognized symbols of emergency care, the ambulance is a place where innovative thinking and split second decision making leads to life or death. Although today, the ambulance is one of many pieces in the emergency response and care arsenal, the vehicle we have all come to recognize came from very humble origins.
From the most basic litter developed in the ancient world’s to the animal powered “flying ambulance” and the horse drawn wagons of the 18th and 19th centuries, the development of the ambulance itself is a story filled with hope and inspiration.
From crude beginnings in field hospitals across the world, emergency responders and surgeons have partnered to create an array of emergency response equipment that has stood the test of time. With every new generation tools are refined and re-imagined in an attempt to provide better and faster care.
With the dedication of the Men and Women of EMS has grown into an amazing field full of professionals dedicated to caring for their communities around the world.
Continue to check back as this exhibit is still under development. If you know an EMS innovator who isn’t pictured in the exhibit send us a message with a biography and photograph and we will be sure to add them to our EMS innovator collection in our archives!