James O. Page Papers

The Professional Archives of the Father of Modern EMS

The James O. Page Collection is an umbrella for what will be a continuously growing archive and library of EMS history absed on the work of numerous participants in and contributors to the field.

The James O. Page Papers are a subset of the Collection. The Papers are the individual archives of Page himself—his correspondence, publications, speeches, photographs, recordings, and other files which he generated and used throughout the course of his career.

A finding aid to the dozens of cartons of Page's files is available on the Online Archive of California: James O. Page Papers (Collection 461)

A.J. Heightman, current editor-in-chief of JEMS and a member of the collection’s Advisory Committee, described the Papers’ value: “Part of Jim Page’s legacy was his ability to sense and capture important and historic events and projects as they were occurring. His files and records he left us reflect this and will enable us to preserve and pass on this important information to future generations of emergency responders and system administrators.”

Online Selections From The James O. Page Papers

The following is a small sample from the thousands of documents in the James O. Page Papers. We are working with our Advisory Committee to identify important speeches, reports, publications, conference materials and other items from Jim Page’s professional files, to digitize and make available online. Items may be downloaded from this website and used for “fair use” personal reading and research, but please contact us for permission to excerpt or re-publish. When many more documents are mounted online, they will be presented through the UCLA Digital Library and will be fully searchable. Our next goal will be to provide opportunities for readers to interact with documents in a “wiki” manner by providing commentary and sharing insights about the importance and impact of items from the collections.

The list of online documents, below, will continue to grow as we select more manuscripts, publications, and audio and video excerpts from the Page Papers.

In each of the descriptions listed below, “JOP” stands for “James O. Page.”

History of EMS: Landmark documents and historical reviews

Emergency Medical Services Act of 1973

• GAO (General Accounting Office), Statement of Gregory J. Ahart Statement of Gregory J. Ahart (1976)
• “Long-term regional organization of EMS” response by JOP (1976)
• “Model state emergency medical services (EMS) statute” by JOP (10 January 1977)

California Assembly Select Committee on Fire Services

• Cover letters (1976)
• Statement by JOP (14 May 1976)

CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)

• “The origins and history of CPR” speech by JOP; First Aid and CPR Instructors Conference (Saddle River, NJ: 16 September 1976)

Mobile Intensive Care

• Memorandum Proposal: Mobile Intensive Care Concept (Harbor General Hospital, County of Los Angeles: May 1971)

EMS Education: Courses, curricula, and syllabi

AUPHA (Association of University Programs in Health Administration) EMS Services Planning Course (1975-1977)

• Syllabus on Emergency Medical Services Planning (December, 1975)

AUPHA (Association of University Programs in Health Administration) EMS Services Manpower and Training Course (1976)

• “Curriculum” module by JOP, prepared for Florida International University’s EMS Educational Project

EMS Today

• Flyer announcing the first EMS Today conference (Kansas City, MO: 1982)

University of Pennsylvania EMS Administration Course (Philadelphia, PA: 1975)

• Cover letter (June 1, 1975)
• “Scenario” and “Implementation” outline by JOP
• Scenario Lecture

Publishing and Publications

JEMS

• “What makes JEMS different” advertising flyer (ca. 1982)
• “Ideas for future articles” list by JOP (1979 or 1980)
• First “Publisher’s Page” column by JOP (1980)

Paramedics International

• “Protect the spirit!” manuscript by JOP (1978)

Speeches and Lectures

• “Jim’s sure-fire, universal, fill-in-the blanks, after-dinner EMS speech, pep talk and harangue” annotated typescript by JOP (no date)
• “Advanced life support” by JOP; keynote address to the Texas Medical Services Symposium (Austin, TX: 18 March 1977) 
• “The Life!mobile: An innovative approach to the design of a mobile intensive care unit vehicle” by JOP; report to the National EMS Communications and Transportation Symposium (Atlanta, GA: 29 March 1977)
• “Medical control” by JOP; remarks prepared for Workshop on Medical Control, National EMS Communications and Transportation Symposium (Atlanta, GA: 30 March 1977) 
• “Medical control” by JOP; for presentation to the ACT Foundation Seminar for Fire Department EMS Supervisors (San Francisco, CA: 3 May 1977)
• “Fireman of the Year award dinner” by JOP, presented in Aurora, IL (8 November 1977)
• “EMS problems and proximate solutions” by JOP; for EMS Systems Development and Management conference (East Lansing, MI: 1 May 1978) 
• Untitled text about “the world of EMS” and “citizen CPR” by JOP; EMS Symposium (Erie, PA: 20 October 1978)
• “CPR: the present” by JOP; keynote address presented to the Conference on citizen CPR (Houston, TX: 19 April 1980)
• The impact of violence on prehospital EMS systems; National EMS Symposium (Greenville, SC: 18-20 August 1983)
• “A speech” by JOP; Annual Fire Technology Dinner, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Police Academy (Los Angeles, CA: 23 May 1985) 
• “The second generation of paramedics” (video) by JOP (his final speech, about the history of EMS); Emergency Medical Services Academy 2004 Graduation, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (Albuquerque, NM: 2004)

Media

The Towering Inferno

• “Hollywood meets the fire service” manuscript of article by JOP (no date) 

Harwood County Rescue Squad

A teleplay by JOP, “based on real people and real events. The characterizations are largely derived from the writer’s personal experiences with the volunteers of Haywood County rescue Squad in Canton and Waynesville, North Carolina.”

• “Harwood County Rescue Squad” article by JOP (no date)
• Harwood County Rescue Squad script by JOP (ca. 1977)

Legal Aspects of EMS

Articles and Editorials

• “EMS legislation” by JOP (1977)

Workshops

• “Mock trial” transcript by JOP; EMS Today 1983, An Educational Conference (San Diego, CA: 19-21 October 1983)
• “The law and EMT” by JOP (1983 or 1984)
• “Lesson outline: Legal issues in EMS” by JOP (1983 or 1984)

Speeches and Lectures

• “Emergency medical services and the law” by JOP, presentation to the Governor’s Conference on Medical Care System for the Emergency Patient (Bloomington, MN: 25 February 1977)
• “Legal issues involved with basic and advanced life support” by JOP; presentation at the Seminar on Clinical Public relations (North Brunswick, NJ: 13 November 1977)
• “Are efforts at state EMS legislation worth the time, trouble and energy?” by JOP; presentation at the Louisiana EMS Conference (New Orleans, LA: 1-2 February 1979)