Some of the information on this page comes from the home page of the Ambulance Services of Ireland. Check the page, Other Internet Sites, for their address, and the address of other interesting EMT sites
Battlefield History
Irish EMS
Early EMS in the U.S.
Changes in the 1960's
Origin of the Star of Life
The Staff of Aesculapius
The Caduceus
"The fields of battle, injured, broken and blooded soldiers lying across the Battlefields of Europe is where the concept of an ambulance service originated from, "no MedEvac though" just other soldiers picking the bodies of the dead and injured after the battles. Men would be paid a small reward for saving the lives of injured soldiers.
During the Crusades in the 11th Century, the Knights of St.John received first-aid instructions from Arab and Greek Doctors. This enabled the Knights of St.John to provide relief for the wounded of both sides in tents close to the battlefield.
In Napoleon`s time, the Surgeon-in-Chief of the Grand Army, "Baron Dominiquie Larrey" instructed his medical corp. to move out from the field hospitals and search for and aid the wounded where they lay, returning them to the field hospitals by stretcher hand-carts and wagons. All the major wars of the 18th, 19th and 20th century saw developments in the delivery of medical aid to wounded soldiers, on and off the battlefield."
The Ambulance Service of Ireland developed an interesting bicycle built for 2x2 which was used to transport patients in a convertible-like atmosphere. They also used fancy horse drawn wagons to serve as ambulances.
Volunteer ambulance squads were organized and travelled to Europe to provide care for the wounded soldiers in World War One.
The military had their own trained corpsmen that provided care for the wounded in World War 2, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam. Much of the technology and techn iques used later in civilian emergency medicine was developed on these battlefields..
In the United States, Julian Stanley Wise stands next to the rescue crew's "Ambulance", a 1928 Dodge Roadster
The Star of Life (SOL) was designed by a Leo R. Schwartz, EMS Branch Chief at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ) United States of America. The star of life was created in 1973 as a common symbol to be used by US emergency medical services (EMS) and medical goods pertaining to EMS, after complaints from the American National Red Cross objecting to the use and imitation of the red cross symbol by ambulance services throughout America
However the use of the red cross symbol can still be seen on military vehicles, hospital tents and buildings to protect wounded civilian and military personnel as per the Geneva Convention in times of war.
Each bar on the Star of Life represents one of six functions. They are as follows:
The snake and staff in the symbol portray the staff of Aesculapius, son of Apollo, the staff represents medicine and healing. The Star of Life symbol can be seen as a means of identification on ambulances and ambulance equipment worldwide. It`s use on EMS patches in the US and other countries signifies the wearer has been trained to meet National or State Training Standards.
Aesculapius son of Apollo and the maiden Coronis. Now, Apollo was in love with the maiden Coronis, who was carrying his unborn child. One day Apollo received a disturbing message from a white raven telling him Coronis was in love with another. Apollo couldn`t believe what he had been told by the white raven. Apollo became very angry, so angry he turned the white raven black, coal black. His anger remained, so he decided to punish Coronis for being unfaithful to him by placing her on a funeral pyre. About now Apollo started to feel a little guilty as to what he was doing, for not only was he killing his lover Coronis, he was killing his unborn child. Apollo took the child from the womb of Coronis (not sure if Coronis pulled through this caesarean or not!) and brought the child to Chiron. Chiron was instructed by Apollo to call his new son "Aesculapius" and to instruct him in the ways of medicine and healing.
Aesculapius surpassed Chiron`s teachings to become an excellent healer of the sick, delivering many tormented mortals from deaths door back to health. Zeus, the God of Gods felt that Aesculapius powers of healing were going well beyond the powers of mortal man. Zeus struck Aesculapius with a bolt of lightening, killing him where he stood. (no AED's in those days!)
Following Aesculapius' death, he was worshiped and honored as a God of healing, people would sleep in his temples, Aesculapius would appear to them in their dreams offering cures and remedies. The Staff of Aesculapius has become medicines only symbol, don`t confuse it with the Caduceus.
The Caduceus is used by some Military Medical Corps and Physicians, the staff is winged, with two serpents entwined on it. The Caduceus was carried by Hermes messenger to the Gods.
The caduceus, or "Kerykeion" is a rod entwined by two snakes and sometimes furnished with wings near the tip. It was the badge of Hermes, messenger of the Gods and a guide of the dead, though in the latter capacity he carries only a forked stick. The word "Kerykeion" is derived from keryx, meaning herald (to announce, to carry messages ). Heralds would carry messages between hostile armies or Cities and were inviolate. Molesting a herald was an offense and the Gods were thought to become involved in enacting justice for such offenses.
Some sources believe that the Caduceus was originally decorated with ribbons rather than snakes. Another source has it that the snakes were worms and the staff was a stick. Before modern medicine, doctor`s treated infection by parasitic worms with a stick & knife. The doctor would cut a slit in the patient`s skin just in front of the moving worm. Later, as the worm crawled out of the cut, it was wound around the stick until the entire worm had been removed from the patient. Doctors would promote their services by using a sign with the stick and worms painted on it.