WHEREAS, emergency medical services is a vital public service; and WHEREAS, the members of emergency medical services teams are ready to provide lifesaving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week; and WHEREAS, access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury; and WHEREAS, emergency medical services has grown to fill a gap by providing important, out of hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care, and access to telemedicine; and WHEREAS, the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public, and other out of hospital medical care providers; and WHEREAS, the members of emergency medical services teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their lifesaving skills; and WHEREAS, it is appropriate to recognize the value and the accomplishments of emergency medical services providers by designating the Emergency Medical Services Week; now NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that, I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, in do hereby proclaim the week of May 19-25, 2024 as

Emergency Medical Services Week

with this year’s 50th Anniversary theme, EMS Week: Honoring Our Past. Forging Our Future, and I urge all citizens to honor and celebrate our EMS professionals and recognize the contributions they make every day.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this first day of May Two Thousand Twenty-Four