On Monday, May 4 starting at 12 noon central time, we have a special live broadcast planned for Wisconsin EMS Live. Our guests include Dr. Eugene Nagel, Randolph Mantooth and Nancy McFarland. If these names aren’t familiar to you, that’s okay. Just know they are some of the EMS industry’s strongest advocates.
The 60 minute program is dedicated to discussing the start of Paramedic systems, those responsible for its rise in the 1960's and 70's, the determination and vision it took, and based on their experiences how they see the industry evolving into Community Paramedicine! Listener questions will be invited during the live show.
Guests include:
Dr. Eugene Nagel – is still deeply involved in EMS – even at age 90. He continues to speak to groups and at community college paramedic classes in Florida. Dr. Nagel is a retired anesthesiologist. He was an innovative pioneer who served as medical director for the City of Miami Fire 
Department's rescue operation from 1964 to 1974. During those 10 years, Dr. Nagel developed the first paramedic program utilizing voice medical control and telemetry to send a patient’s heart rhythm from the field to the receiving hospital. The biophone or “orange box” was a familiar piece of equipment used by paramedics and on the TV show EMERENCY! The TV show’s unit now resides on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Randolph Mantooth - actor, producer and speaker. Widely known for his role as Paramedic John Gage in the TV series EMERGENCY! -- the show that transformed America's perception and approach to emergency medical care in the 1970s and introduced millions to the word "paramedic" for the first time. Mr. Mantooth is a popular speaker at Fire and EMS events, and an advocate for firefighter health and safety. His website is www.RandolphMantooth.com.
Nancy McFarland – (Retired) LA County Fire Museum board director and Chair of the Pioneers of Paramedicine Committee. Ms. McFarland was instrumental in uniting the four doctors credited with starting the first (fire-based) paramedic programs in the United States in the late 1960s for taped interviews and a Lifetime Achievement Awards Gala in May of 2010.
Don't miss this inspiring conversation. Call in using 646-929-1081 or listen on any internet connected device. Listener questions can be called in during the live show or by emailing wisconsinemslive@paaw.us.
Don’t miss a beat of the action – listen to Wisconsin EMS Live.
A word from Randolph Mantooth
I’ve traveled the country speaking about the history of paramedics, and about the people whose visionary ideas changed the face of emergency medicine. I find that many men and women in the EMS profession and its related industries aren’t aware of their own history. They don’t know the names of the “Pioneers of Paramedicine.” Keeping that history alive, and telling the story of the journey of EMS in America has become a passion of mine -- a torch passed on to me by my good friend, Jim Page.
As with many ideas, this one started with a simple conversation during a road trip in Minnesota in 2009. We asked one another -- what if we were able to bring together the four doctors who started these paramedic programs, and have Eugene Nagel from Miami, Leonard Cobb from Seattle and Michael Criley and Walter Graf from Los Angeles record their personal stories on video. These four doctors weren’t just witnesses to the birth of modern EMS -- they conceived the idea, and delivered it.
Click below to hear the stories told by the people who lived them as visionaries of modern day EMS.
>> Click here for the Pioneers of Paramedicine video produced in 2010.
