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Celebrating 50 Years of EMS Week

Honoring the Past. Forging the Future.

EMS Week is the time we honor the entire EMS profession and its importance in protecting the safety and health of our citizens. Our country’s EMS professionals serve in a broad range of roles, from providing highly skilled care in an ambulance, to serving as educators, to practicing community paramedicine, to conducting research. These individuals are dedicated to improving emergency medical services on numerous levels and are helping to advance the vision of EMS Agenda 2050, that of a data-driven, evidence-based, people-centered EMS system.

May 19-25, 2024 marks the 50th Anniversary of EMS Week. This year’s theme, “Honoring Our Past. Forging Our Future,” reminds us to acknowledge the foundational work of those who came before us, while also striving to build and lead the EMS system we envision for our future. In the 50 years since we’ve been celebrating EMS Week, our profession has made enormous strides in pre-hospital care, data collection, emergency management and community-based healthcare. We’ve developed comprehensive EMS systems that are ready for any kind of emergency–seven days a week, 24 hours a day–whether or not that includes going to the hospital.

NHTSA’s Office of EMS (OEMS) proudly supports the EMS community and honors the hard work and commitment of the hundreds of thousands of EMS clinicians across our country. Their unwavering dedication and hard work saves lives every day. Thank you for your service to our nation.  

Federal Partners in EMS - FICEMS

The Federal Interagency Committee on EMS  (FICEMS) consists of Federal agencies who work together to support the EMS community.

The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the rural EMS staff and providers that deliver crucial services to rural communities across the country. FORHP often works with rural EMS through Subject Matter Experts and Technical Assistance organizations discussed below.

FORHP funds the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) which educates and supports the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, known as Flex, which includes assistance for rural EMS agencies participating in Flex funded projects.  The TASC team helps to connect Flex programs with resources  such as toolkits, webinars and Subject Matter Experts. All of the posted toolkits, videos, articles etc. on the TASC site are available to the public. The Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) website is also funded by FORHP; it provides information on resources, funding opportunities, events as well as models and innovations in rural EMS.  Additionally, in Fiscal Year 2022 FORHP funded Stratis Health to develop a course for the Rural Quality Improvement Technical Assistance Program.  This resource was designed to introduce the concept of quality improvement to rural EMS agencies.  Both the RHIhub and the EMS Quality Improvement Course from Stratis health are also available to the public for use.

Learn more about EMS Week and link to activities and resources from stakeholder organizations.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Department of Defense (DOD) 

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

EMS Week Resources

Last Updated: 05/10/2024