Ben-Nadav Hafri

Jeff Jarvis, the Chief Medical Officer for the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority in Fort Worth, Texas. an emergency medical service that serves over a million people in Fort Worth and 14 surrounding cities. He's been a paramedic since the 1980s. He served around New York City and Austin. So 18-year-old Jeff, who's made his decision to begin to be a paramedic.

Jeff Jarvis, the Chief Medical Officer for the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority in Fort Worth, Texas. an emergency medical service that serves over a million people in Fort Worth and 14 surrounding cities. He's been a paramedic since the 1980s. He served around New York City and Austin. So 18-year-old Jeff, who's made his decision to begin to be a paramedic.

So let me ask you, let me ask you a question. In the 1970s, did you ever watch the television show Emergency? Oh, of course. And did that have an effect on your becoming a paramedic? It did. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. In 1972, NBC began airing a television show called Emergency. That's got an exclamation point at the end, by the way.

So let me ask you, let me ask you a question. In the 1970s, did you ever watch the television show Emergency? Oh, of course. And did that have an effect on your becoming a paramedic? It did. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. In 1972, NBC began airing a television show called Emergency. That's got an exclamation point at the end, by the way.

The theme song is the music they'd play in My Version of Hell. The show is about Johnny and Roy, two young paramedics working out of Fire Station 51 in Los Angeles. Except they're not paramedics in the beginning.

The theme song is the music they'd play in My Version of Hell. The show is about Johnny and Roy, two young paramedics working out of Fire Station 51 in Los Angeles. Except they're not paramedics in the beginning.

The series begins in a world where there basically aren't any paramedics, which was our world 53 years ago. 53 years. In 1971, there were a slim 12 paramedic units in the entire country. And it was kind of a Wild West situation. Details varied from place to place, but in some areas, it was illegal to give someone medical care if you weren't a doctor or a nurse.

The series begins in a world where there basically aren't any paramedics, which was our world 53 years ago. 53 years. In 1971, there were a slim 12 paramedic units in the entire country. And it was kind of a Wild West situation. Details varied from place to place, but in some areas, it was illegal to give someone medical care if you weren't a doctor or a nurse.

So about 50% of ambulances were just hearses, driven out of funeral homes by morticians whose sole purpose was to get patients to doctors as quickly as possible. And if that failed... back to the funeral home you go. This is actually how it worked.

So about 50% of ambulances were just hearses, driven out of funeral homes by morticians whose sole purpose was to get patients to doctors as quickly as possible. And if that failed... back to the funeral home you go. This is actually how it worked.

Emergency was a show dreamed up in partnership with the father of modern EMS, a guy named James Page, who worked at one of the first firehouses with a paramedic unit in Los Angeles. And the show was literally meant to make the case for paramedics. Every Saturday night, nationwide, on NBC, 30 million viewers at a time, not a few of whom became paramedics.

Emergency was a show dreamed up in partnership with the father of modern EMS, a guy named James Page, who worked at one of the first firehouses with a paramedic unit in Los Angeles. And the show was literally meant to make the case for paramedics. Every Saturday night, nationwide, on NBC, 30 million viewers at a time, not a few of whom became paramedics.

I learned about emergency in a brilliant essay by UCLA emeritus law professor Paul Bergman, where he traces the profound influence the show had not just on paramedics, but on lawmakers too, by dramatizing just how urgent every single 911 call is.

I learned about emergency in a brilliant essay by UCLA emeritus law professor Paul Bergman, where he traces the profound influence the show had not just on paramedics, but on lawmakers too, by dramatizing just how urgent every single 911 call is.

This is from the first episode, right after a maintenance man gets electrocuted and eventually dies. The doctor and nurse, who, by the way, are of course romantically involved, are talking.

This is from the first episode, right after a maintenance man gets electrocuted and eventually dies. The doctor and nurse, who, by the way, are of course romantically involved, are talking.

It's a doubleheader pilot. And both episodes are full of these situations that dramatize the resistance to paramedics, which was very real. But the show argues that we need paramedics. And why do we need them? Because there are so many accidents where if only someone had been there in time, we could have saved them.

It's a doubleheader pilot. And both episodes are full of these situations that dramatize the resistance to paramedics, which was very real. But the show argues that we need paramedics. And why do we need them? Because there are so many accidents where if only someone had been there in time, we could have saved them.

Bergman, the law professor, talked to the legends of EMS. And he heard all these emergency references. Doug threw California hearings on the Paramedic Act, and he found emergency references. Letters from senators. Emergency references. In the early years of the show, 46 states legalized paramedicine. To be clear, this was a movement that was already in process.

Bergman, the law professor, talked to the legends of EMS. And he heard all these emergency references. Doug threw California hearings on the Paramedic Act, and he found emergency references. Letters from senators. Emergency references. In the early years of the show, 46 states legalized paramedicine. To be clear, this was a movement that was already in process.