EMS serves the great City of New Bedford, Massachusetts, providing the highest quality pre-hospital care available today. The department is consistently growing and changing to meet the needs of not only today, but also for the future.

In the early 1970's, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in New Bedford consisted of a Cadillac ambulance, operated by police officers. In 1976, New Bedford EMS was formed and at the time, consisted of only 18 Basic EMTs and woefully inadequate equipment.

Since that time, EMS has developed into a highly effective organization employing 35 Paramedics and Intermediates, in both full and part time capacities. By developing a close working relationship with our Service Medical Director and the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services this agency has evolved into one of the finest EMS organizations in the state. Under the direct command of Field Supervisors chosen for their expertise as Paramedics and their ability to lead, crews respond in three state of the art Advanced Life Support ambulances positioned strategically throughout the City to over 11,000 calls for service annually

EMS's annual budget is currently $ 2.1 million, but since an innovative major fee restructuring effort in December 1991, and again in 2003, a major portion of the budget is generated from revenues from EMS services, resulting in a 72% collection rate, which is an improvement over the past and is continuing to increase. Clearly, this aspect of our department will be a focus in the immediate future as we work with the current Administration to further revamp our fee schedules and data management to reflect current trends.