In 1927, the city of Detroit was gifted a 1927 Packard ambulance by Paxton Mendelssohn, a fire buff and future fire commissioner in memory of his mother. This ambulance,  the first of its kind in the city, and the second in the nation,  was put under the charge of the fire department. This was in essence a mobile hospital, staffed by a doctor to treat minor injures and not a transport service unless in extreme cases. It also served as the department’s coffee wagon and during the winter months, it roamed the streets giving out hot cups of coffee to keep people warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mendelssohn also gifted the department’s second ambulance, a 1937 Cadillac  Meteor.

As time went on, the fire department acquired  several more including a 1942 Cadillac model, and in 1969 a GMC Gerstenslager was again donated to the department by Paxton, but its main purpose was a medical command post, not transport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In early 1972, with the new 911 system a few years old, The city of Detroit was looking for a way to relive the workload of the police and fire department with the vison of dedicated on-site triage and transport to a hospital as minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Detroit Fire Chief Harold Gentile along with Chief Marion “Dutch” Hollen, set the foundations for what was to become the Emergency Medical Service for Detroit.

A call was put out for combat medics and corpsmen fresh from Vietnam as they already had the training to stabilize patients so they could get them to the M.A.S.H units in the rear. 

60 men answered the call: 7 former military medics and 40 medics fresh from Vietnam were among those who applied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We are pleased that we can take advantage of their training and experience”
~Detroit Mayor Roman Gribbs on the unveiling of the EMS division~

In June the city of Detroit unveiled its new EMS division with its rookie class of 60 students along with its new $15,000 Champion Guardian units.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the new units were equipped with a aspirator, an obstetrics kit, a spine board and the most modern respirator on the market.  Newly appointed EMS Chief Harold Gentile told reporters as he showed them around the orange and white vehicles,

 

“When we become fully operational, we will have the best city wide emergency unit in the country”

In the early years of the EMS service, the city was careful to call the new vehicles “units” , and medics as “Technicians” as they were paid for by a grant from the federal Department of transportation as well as state legislation at the time not allowing EMS technicians to perform as true paramedics at emergency scenes. That was changed by the Public Heath Code Act of 1978.

As such, Detroit EMS was not part of the fire department per se, but under the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDoT), hence why they never carried the traditional red livery of the fire department. Chief Harold Gentle, a Marine Corp veteran, chose the EMS uniform to closely resemble Marine Class B uniforms which, coincidently were identical to the city bus drivers and many medics were mistaken as such. In addition, they were issued their own unique badge and numbering system apart from the fire department. 

Five units hit the streets on June 19th, 1972 rising to a total of 16 by January of 1973. Each unit was manned by two “Technicians” who worked 12 hour shifts being paid $8,600 (62k in 2023 dollars)  a year out of city funds. The cost was offset as there was a $35 dollar charge to use the service to curb frivolous runs while police and fire services were still free. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, each unit would be located in a existing firehouses, and in some instances additions were added to accommodate the new service, which became a point of contention with the firefighters at the time. 

The first year was hard going as an average of 5-6 Techs were wounded a month due to assaults stemming from either arriving to a scene first or what was dispatched as a routine run going south. Compounding the issue was that unlike police and fire. EMS staff were not given disability pay for time loss, instead having to burn through their sick time. Many Techs were disgruntled and some staff confirmed that co-workers were considering offers from other cities. 

 In addition, the president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association, Earl Berry, demanded that the service be taken out of the fire department over claims that EMS staff had been given equipment and apparatus priority over the fire fighting division. 

However the success of the new service spoke for itself. From June 1972 to February of 1974, those 16 units responded to an amazing 103,350 runs and delivered over 100 babies.

By 1974, EMS was severely stretched thin, with wait times now surpassing 10 minutes. In an attempt to remedy the problem, Chief Hollen requested an additional 9 units to bring response times down to the target of 4-5 minute. 

However, Mayor Coleman Young’s budget for that year only authorized 4 instead of the required 9, putting more money into recreation than the much needed EMS division. 

The heavy workload, coupled with units that constantly broke down due to overuse and lack of preventative maintenance, a meager budget, and high turnover rate, caused constant short staffing issues which carried over to longer response time and the dreaded “Be advised, no units available” announcement over the radio. 

The massive toll on the ambulances shortened the expected lifespan from three years to barely 18 months before it was rotated out for a new rig.

Technicians like Gerard Pittman, took an average of 10-12 runs a night when the average was 3-4 in other cities, often times going out of his assigned range when there was no units available to render aid and immediately going back into service after a patient was dropped off at a hospital.

In 1975, the first female Technicians graduated from the academy and began to run the streets alongside their male counterparts. 

It wasn’t until the mid 80s when units were finally called “Medics” as each rig was then staffed by one licensed paramedic and an EMT. By 1989 there were two official medic units. Medic 8 was located in the Eastern Marked district and Medic 17 at Greenfield and Fenkell. It wasn’t until 1995 that two more units, 1 and 15, became “Medics” and after a few more years all units transitioned into medics.

One year later, the city officially made the EMS into a official division of the fire department, going from the tan shirt and green slacks to DFD blue and receiving department badges.

 

Today, Detroit EMS is now completely integrated into the fire department with medics being cross-trained as both firefighters and medics, which was not the case before. Its new designation is “Detroit Fire Department Emergency Medical Service”(DFDEMS) with the new units now finally having the word “Ambulance” on the vehicles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently, there are 28 Medic units stationed throughout metro Detroit. Out of the over 165,000 annual 911 calls, of which over 80% are EMS related keeping the medics working around the clock. 

With that, we salute the trailblazers as well as those who are continuing the fine tradition laid down by those combat medics over 50 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to former DEMS medics Angela Turner, Brandon Heath, Bob Carroll, Terence Harned, Willard Crawford, Robert Carlton, and Elyse Buford as well as Nancy Gentile-Elston with background and historical information .