It’s time to honor emergency medical service providers

IN THE MON VALLEY and all across America, teams of dedicated professionals stand ready to render medical assistance in emergencies.

For some this is their career.

For many others, it is a volunteer undertaking that is performed in addition to their normal employment.

It’s impossible to overstate how important emergency medical service (EMS) personnel can be to just about any of us in a moment when knowledgeable help is needed fast.

Honoring the men and women who handle this vital work is appropriate at all times, but especially so just now.

That’s because National EMS Week began Sunday and continues through Saturday.

In 1974, President Gerald Ford proclaimed the first National EMS Week.

Now the event is led by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

This year’s theme “Honoring Our Past, Forging Our Future” is in honor of the pioneers who made emergency medical services what it is today and encourages those in the industry to face the future of EMS with their same tenacity and drive for excellence.

In his proclamation this week, President Joe Biden stated, “During National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week, we honor our Nation’s courageous EMS providers, who put it all on the line to deliver urgent, life-saving care to people across our country in times of great need.

Whether paramedics, emergency medical technicians, 911 and 988 dispatchers or other first responders, EMS providers routinely work long hours away from loved ones to keep other families whole. They risk their own lives and health, staring down storms, floods, or fires and rushing to rescue people in need.

For many Americans, they are a beacon of hope in some of life’s toughest moments and let us know we are going to be okay. We have a duty to show up for them the way they show up for us.”

We echo those sentiments and thank all that our EMS providers do 24/7, 365 days a year.