City Council celebrates National EMS Week

In 1974, President Gerald Ford authorized the first National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week to honor Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and other EMS practitioners.

Now, more than ever, we understand how critical the almost 400 EMTs in Boston are to our community and how hard they work to provide expansive support services to Boston residents. In Boston, there are five divisions:

Field Operations, delivers the 911 response to residents and visitors
Dispatch Operations, Boston’s EMT-Telecommunicators who are often “the real first responders"
Special Operations, covers special events and emergencies
Training Division, educates and develops all of Boston’s EMTs and Paramedics
Community Initiatives, offers local programs to educate the public on safety and lifesaving skills.

Boston EMS and Paramedics field an average of 125,000 911 calls for help each year and respond to over 300 emergencies a day. EMS plays an especially important role in connecting our homeless population to services as well as in the efforts to combat the opioid epidemic and continue to reduce the number of overdoses.

This week, the Council celebrated all of its EMS practitioners and recognized this week, May 16-22, 2021, as National Emergency Medical Services Week in the City of Boston.