What does EMS stand for?

EMS is an acronym for Emergency Medical Services.  The profession was born from the battlefield in the Napoleonic era when Napoleon’s physician Dominque-Jean Larrey used horse-drawn carts as the first “ambulance” to move injured soldiers off of the battlefield to a treatment area.  The idea made its way to the United States during the Civil War.  In WWI, the United States Army used non-physicians in the trenches to treat casualties; in WWII, these men entered combat and became the corpsmen and medics we know today.  In the 1950s, civilian programs began developing and by the mid-1960s, the EMS profession in the United States started to take shape. Click Here for more EMS History 

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1. What does EMS stand for?
2. Where did the Star of Life symbol on ambulances come from?
3. What should the public know about Paramedics?
4. What do I do while driving when an emergency vehicle approaches with lights and sirens on?
5. What’s the difference between a paramedic and an ambulance driver?
6. Why do I see the paramedics in the grocery store when they’re on duty?
7. Why does more than just an ambulance come when I call 911?
8. Sometimes the ambulance drives with lights and sirens, and sometimes they don't. What's the difference?
9. Why don’t the paramedics run to treat patients?
10. Do I get to choose which hospital you take me to?
11. If I or someone I care for has special medical needs, how do I let the Paramedics know?
12. If I go to the hospital in the ambulance, will I be seen by a doctor sooner?
13. How do I become a paramedic?