In the early 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Americans were dying every year due to the lack of paramedic services; then a television show about paramedics came to the country’s rescue. First aired in January 1972, Emergency! brought emergency medical services into the mainstream. The NBC scripted serial drama about John Cage (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe), who work as paramedics and firefighters in Los Angeles County, brought the idea of paramedicine into homes throughout the country. Television producers Robert Cinader and Jack Webb were looking for a show about firefighters and met with LA County Fire Capt. James Page, who was one of the pioneers of EMS services in the U.S. When Page suggested that they look at the new paramedic program, Emergency! was born. The actors also underwent paramedic training for the series. The result was a realistic portrayal of the possibilities of what EMS services across the country could do. At a time when most American viewers had access to only three TV stations — ABC, CBS and NBC — each episode of Emergency! garnered around 30 million viewers. In 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the Emergency Medical Services Systems Act into law and provided federal funds for municipalities to establish their own EMS service. By the end of the show’s first three seasons, EMS services had expanded into 46 states, and by 1980 half the country lived within 10 minutes of an ambulance. The fictional adventures of LA County’s Fire Department Squad 51 may not be as popular on streaming services as Grey’s Anatomy or Chicago Med, but the show’s props — including helmets, a Biophone, and a defibrillator — can be found in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
