Between the times that "Marcus Welby, M.D." first put up his shingle and the doctors over at County General Hospital started working in the "ER," the brave paramedics of "Emergency!" helped save lives on television each week. Although these professionals have become an established and necessary part of the medical community, when this show debuted in 1972, the use of paramedics was still in the experimental stage in most parts of the country. Thanks to a bit of legislation called "The Wedsworth-Townsend Act," however, Los Angeles made the paramedic program permanent; other states and counties soon followed suit.
"Emergency!" focused on Johnny Gage (*Randolph Mantooth*) and Roy DeSoto (*Kevin Tighe*), two paramedics who worked for the Los Angeles County Fire Department as part of Squad 51. Just like medical corpsmen on the battlefield, Gage and DeSoto went to accident sites, helping keep victims alive until they could be brought to Rampart Hospital. In some cases, Gage and DeSoto found themselves in awkward situations, such as helping a girl who got her toe stuck in a bathtub faucet. Other episodes covered some pretty grim emergencies, including a light airplane crash and a young boy overdosing on pills. At one point, Gage and DeSoto even made an appearance in an episode of the police drama "Adam-12," which was produced by the same company as their show.
"Emergency!" also made the crucial distinction between doctors and paramedics. At each accident site, Gage and DeSoto made sure to call Rampart Hospital for medical guidance from the doctor on duty. In one episode, an overeager, rookie paramedic gets the team in trouble because he started treating an injury victim without speaking to a doctor first.
This show, which lasted about seven seasons on NBC, took the paramedics all over Los Angeles County. At times, Gage and DeSoto were treating victims in the middle of a forest or near the top of a skyscraper. "Emergency!" is classic medical television and, if you are injured in the outdoors without a medical kit, hope that Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto are the first ones on the scene.
Resources:
http://www.emergencyfans.com/episodes/insanity_epidemic.htm
