Emergency!

The Emergency! Season Five DVD Set is available now at Amazon.com for about $25 with free shipping available.

Lots of kids want to be firefighters when they grow up, and Emergency! is a thrill for every one of them, but the show was much more than kids' entertainment. The timing and scope of the show meant that it played an important role in the development of paramedic programs throughout the country.

By the late 1960s, CPR was well established as a means for ambulance drivers to provide meaningful care for patients before they arrived at a hospital, and the medical community had begun to explore the possibility of training non-physicians in more advanced medical care. In July 1970, in spite of opposition from the California Medical Association, the California Fire Chiefs Association, and other powerful interest groups, California governor Ronald Reagan signed the The Wedworth-Townsend Paramedic Act, formally creating the first paramedic program in Los Angeles County.

The pilot episode of Emergency!, entitled "The Wedworth-Townsend Act," aired in early 1972. The plot involved firefighters Roy DeSoto and John Gage deciding to join the new paramedic program even as they faced opposition from the medical establishment. By the end of the pilot, the firefighters convince their greatest opponent, Dr. Brackett, of the value of the program, and in the end Dr. Brackett's testimony is key to the fictionalized version of the passage of the legislation.

Emergency! went on to show the rest of America what was happening with emergency medical services in Los Angeles, as each week Gage and DeSoto assisted Dr. Brackett in saving lives. Soon officials and ordinary citizens throughout the country were demanding the same services in their own communities, and Emergency! is widely credited with playing an important role in creating the level of prehospital emergency care we take for granted today.

This lens was chosen Baby Boomer Lens of the Week on September 8, 2007. Thanks to KimGiancaterino for the nomination and to GiddyGabby for running the great group Boomers Rock!

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Johnny and Roy showed us how firemen trained as paramedics, much like medics on the field of battle, could save lives. Ring the station bell for Freaknoodles and give a woot to KimGiancaterino, formerly timefortravel, for her seventh winning pick.