Editing Emergency medical services (section)

===Rise of modern EMS===
[[File:DFVAC 1970s Cadillac Miller Meteor color.jpg|right|thumb|A 1973 [[Cadillac]] [[Miller-Meteor#Miller-Meteor|Miller-Meteor]] ambulance. Note the raised roof, with more room for the attendants and patients.]]
Advances in the 1960s, especially the development of [[Cardiopulmonary resuscitation|CPR]] and [[defibrillation]] as the standard form of care for out-of-hospital [[cardiac arrest]], along with new [[pharmaceutical]]s, led to changes in the tasks of the ambulances.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Kouwenhoven WB, Jude JR, Knickerbocker GG|title=Closed-chest cardiac massage|journal=JAMA|volume=173|issue=10|pages=1064–67|date=July 1960|pmid=14411374|doi=10.1001/jama.1960.03020280004002|s2cid=2663379|url=http://cdm15290.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/p15290coll5,3643}}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In [[Belfast]], Northern Ireland the first experimental mobile coronary care ambulance successfully resuscitated patients using these technologies. [[Freedom House Ambulance Service]] was the first civilian emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by [[paramedics]], all of whom were African-American.

One well-known report in the US during that time was ''[[Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society]]'', also known as ''The White Paper''. The report concluded that ambulance services in the US varied widely in quality and were often unregulated and unsatisfactory.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9978&page=R1|title=Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society|year=1966|doi=10.17226/9978|pmid=25057729|isbn=978-0-309-07532-9|access-date=2011-09-17|author1=National Academy of Sciences (US) National Research Council (US) Committee on Trauma|author2=National Academy of Sciences (US) National Research Council (US) Committee on Shock}}</ref> These studies placed pressure on governments to improve emergency care in general, including the care provided by ambulance services. The government reports resulted in the creation of [[Standardization|standard]]s in ambulance construction concerning the internal height of the patient care area (to allow for an attendant to continue to care for the patient during transport), and the equipment (and thus weight) that an ambulance had to carry, and several other factors.

In 1971 a progress report was published at the annual meeting, by the then president of American Association of Trauma, Sawnie R. Gaston M.D. Dr. Gaston reported the study was a "superb white paper" that "jolted and wakened the entire structure of organized medicine." This report is created as a "prime mover" and made the "single greatest contribution of its kind to the improvement of emergency medical services". Since this time a concerted effort has been undertaken to improve emergency medical care in the pre-hospital setting.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1097/00005373-197103000-00001|pmid=5545943|title='Accidental death and disability: the neglected disease of modern society'. A progress report|journal=The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care|volume=11|issue=3|pages=195–206|year=1971|last1=Gaston|first1=Sawnie R.}}</ref> Such advancements included Dr. [[R Adams Cowley]] creating the country's first statewide EMS program, in [[Maryland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umm.edu/shocktrauma/history.html|title=History|publisher=Umm.edu|access-date=2012-04-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051224082924/http://www.umm.edu/shocktrauma/history.html|archive-date=24 December 2005}}</ref>

The developments were paralleled in other countries. In the United Kingdom, a 1973 law merged the municipal ambulance services into larger agencies and set national standards.<ref name="HMSO">{{cite web|title=Royal Commission on the National Health Service|url=http://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/royal-commission-on-the-national-health-service-contents/royal-commission-on-the-nhs-chapter-15/|website=Socialist Health Association|publisher=HMSO|access-date=12 June 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521155911/http://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/royal-commission-on-the-national-health-service-contents/royal-commission-on-the-nhs-chapter-15/|archive-date=21 May 2015|date=1979-07-17}}</ref> In France, the first official [[Emergency medical services in France|SAMU agencies]] were founded in the 1970s.<ref name="Barrier">{{cite book|author=Geneviève Barrier|title=La vie entre les mains|editor=Odile Jacob|date=1992|page=141|language=fr}}</ref>