Growing and Diversifying the EMS Workforce

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) programs throughout the country are facing significant challenges. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of EMS experienced unprecedented workforce loss when many EMTs left the field. Those who remained suffered greater strain from the increased workload. 

At the same time, historically, paramedic programs have been dominated by affluent white males, partly due to the high costs and barriers to entry for paramedic training. 

Stanford University's Department of Emergency Medicine is working to remedy this workforce loss and lack of diversity by building a Stanford-based EMS training program that targets underserved populations and expands gender and a socioeconomic diversity in EMS providers.

When paramedics share ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds with the patients they serve, it helps to break down barriers and build trust. Stanford Emergency Department serves very complex and diverse patients, often drawing from a large socioeconomically disenfranchised population in nearby East Palo Alto. The EMS-training initiative aims to address the shortage of paramedics AND foster trust within the local communities served.

As part of this initiative, Stanford recently hosted EMS pioneer Chief John Moon as Grand Rounds lecturer. Moon was a guiding force at Freedom House, a neighborhood nonprofit in Pittsburgh that has empowered EMS providers to deliver more comprehensive care in the field, particularly to underserved populations. Moon worked with cardiologist Dr. Howard Safer who, in 1967 had the revolutionary idea to provide advanced medical care in the field rather than just during transport.

At the time, ambulance services were provided by the Pittsburgh Police Department, with minimal medical training. Safer partnered with Freedom House to recruit unemployed Black men from the community and train them as paramedics, thus creating the first true paramedics in the United States. The groundbreaking legacy of these paramedics laid the foundation for modern EMS across the country.

Building on this model, Stanford emergency medicine physicians are touring EMS programs throughout the country to collect best practices in training and recruitment. The goal is to create a Stanford-based EMS training program that targets underserved populations and expands gender and a socio-economic diversity in EMS providers.

The success of this initiative also builds on long-standing partnerships between Stanford and local EMS providers throughout the Bay Area. Stanford physicians have long served as medical directors for area fire departments, and frequently train first responders on innovations in emergency care. Stanford is also collaborating with organizations like the Alameda EMS Corps, which trains young people from the criminal justice system as EMTs.

“I see Stanford as a huge force for positive change in our community,” notes Marc Gautreau, MD, director of the EMS section at Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine. “What we have here is a tremendous opportunity to leverage our strength to really make long-term, grassroots-level change and improvement in all of the communities we serve in the Bay Area.”

Stanford’s EMS training program represents a significant step toward diversifying the EMS workforce, with the potential to impact communities far beyond the Bay Area.

Fall 2024