Boston Emergency Medical Services (BEMS), a Department of the Boston Public Health Commission, is one of the nation's oldest providers of pre-hospital care. It traces its beginnings back more than 100 years, when the Department was known as the City Hospital Ambulance Service.

While the changes in medical care over the past century have been monumental, the fundamental mission of the men and women who work for Boston EMS has not changed. Its 300 emergency medical technicians and paramedics work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on the streets of Boston providing state-of-the-art emergency care with skill, compassion and dignity to those who are ill or who have been injured.

In addition to providing emergency care, Boston EMS has a dual responsibility to serve the Commission's public health goals by identifying the underlying causes of much of the emergencies we see and preventing these crisis situations through education and other forms of outreach.