Honoring the People Who Answer the Call During National EMS Week

National EMS Week is observed during the third full week of May each year. It’s a tradition that began in 1974 when President Gerald Ford authorized the observance to celebrate EMS professionals and the vital work they do in communities across the country. The week brings together local communities, hospitals, fire departments, and healthcare systems to honor the dedication of those who provide lifesaving services every single day.

This year’s theme, “Improving Outcomes, Together,” reflects the shared responsibility of advancing patient care, not only through clinical excellence, but through collaboration, investment in EMS professionals, and listening to the people who deliver that care on the front lines.

What does EMS stand for?

EMS stands for Emergency Medical Services — the network of first responders, EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers, and medical professionals who provide emergency care before and during transport to a hospital.

The Scale of EMS in Arizona

In Arizona, the scope of emergency medical services is staggering. The state’s integrated EMS and trauma system includes more than 23,000 Emergency Medical Care Technicians, along with countless emergency physicians and nurses who collectively respond to and manage over one million emergency calls each year. They work on ground and air ambulances, in fire trucks, and in emergency and trauma centers across a state that spans some of the most remote and demanding terrain in the country.

EMS for Children Day — recognized each year on the Wednesday of EMS Week — honors Arizona’s EMS clinicians for their dedication to the unique health needs of more than 70,000 pediatric patients annually. These are calls that require not only technical training but extraordinary composure: a frightened child, a panicked parent, and a professional who has to be steady for all of them.

Today’s EMS clinicians bring advanced skills and innovative tools to patient care, including prehospital ultrasound, early stroke recognition, and whole blood transfusion capabilities that create measurable differences before a patient ever reaches the hospital. The gap between when help arrives and when a patient crosses through hospital doors can be the difference between survival and tragedy. Arizona’s EMS professionals close that gap, every day, for strangers.

The Risks They Accept

What doesn’t make the news often enough is the cost of this commitment. EMS providers and firefighters face occupational hazards that most people will never fully appreciate, including dangers on the road, in burning structures, and in unpredictable situations that no amount of training can fully prepare a person for. They work long shifts under physical and emotional strain, and they absorb the weight of what they witness in ways that don’t simply disappear when the shift ends.

Arizona felt that weight with particular force in the fall of 2025. On September 14, Timber Mesa Fire and Medical District lost two of its own in a single, devastating moment: Brenna Kulikowski, 31, and Damon Thompson, 21, were killed when their ambulance was struck head-on while responding to a call. Two lives, two families, one community forever changed. It’s a reminder that the drive to the scene can be just as dangerous as anything that waits at the other end.

Theirs is not an isolated story. In March 2026, Phoenix firefighter Robert Oliver, Jr., died from cancer he contracted in the line of duty. Across Arizona and the country, first responders and their families live with the knowledge that every shift carries that possibility. That awareness should deepen our gratitude, as well as our respect.

A Salute from Bache Lynch Goldsmith & Mendoza

The attorneys and staff of Bache Lynch Goldsmith & Mendoza wish to recognize and salute the women and men of Arizona’s emergency medical services community. Your skill and courage protect our neighbors, families, and people you have never met and will never meet again. You respond without hesitation. You bring calm to chaos. And you carry the weight of that work long after the call ends.

May is a fitting time for all of us to say what too often goes unsaid: thank you.