The STEP "EMS HISTORY" display is available for use by area EMS and Fire Agencies for display at such events as open house, recruitment night, or other engagements. Contact us for specific arrangements.

STEP is a not-for-profit organization that has its roots in a group of physicians who volunteered to train ambulance personnel in 1963. Dr. Harold Warnock, Assistant Health Director for Monroe County, along with Dr. Henry Crawford, an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David Kluge and Dr. John Morton, general surgeons, organized a Saturday First Aid teaching conference at the Rochester Fire Academy on Scottsville Road. The 75 attendees were very enthusiastic and the course was repeated the following Saturday for 75 more members of fire departments and a few of the newly organized independent ambulance corps.

There followed each September a similar ambulance teaching day including one session in which an Army Field Hospital Unit was assembled at the Academy. Later the courses were transferred to Monroe Community College where vehicle evacuation was practiced in the parking lot. These courses led to an expanded teaching program under a new Trauma Committee of the Monroe County Medical Society.

In 1967 STEP (Study of Trauma and Emergencies Project) developed as a project of the Genesee Valley Medical Foundation. It held a conference at the Rochester Academy of Medicine entitled: “Rochester Forum on Emergency Health Services.” This was partially funded by the Emergency Health Services Division of the U.S. Public Health Service and the proceedings were published.

The ambulance training course held on September 6, 7 and 8, 1967 took place at the Manger Hotel as part of the Empire State First Aid and Rescue Association annual meeting. This was the first course in New York State to receive prior approval from the Department of Health under new ambulance regulations. It was also the first course that provided CPR training to ambulance personnel under the new guidelines of the American Red Cross and other organizations that had been proposed in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In 1970 the first triplicate ambulance record for patient information was developed by STEP under the direction of Dr. Martin Korn. These computerized forms were used in many EMS regions of the country including the entire state of Idaho. All ambulances throughout the country are now using modifications of this original form. In New York State it is now called the "Patient Care Report," abbreviated as PCR.

In 1972 STEP became incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. The acronym was changed to the Society for Total Emergency Programs as suggested by board member Dr. A. E. Hertzler Knox, Medical Director of the Hartford Insurance Company. For ten years (1967-1976) it ran international forums on EMS in Rochester, Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis. Affiliated councils developed, including the STEP Council of the Genesee Region, which became a not-for-profit organization in 1976. The National STEP Council folded after 1976.

In 1969 the STEP Council of the Genesee Region organized a five-year effort that led to the development of mobile coronary care units (MCCU) in Monroe County that was self-funded without grants. Later, when trauma care was included they became known as Mobile Critical Care Units. In 1978, after the state and regional EMS Councils were formed, STEP turned over the responsibility of the MCCU system to the Monroe-Livingston Regional EMS Council.

The fourth ambitious STEP project was the development of a regional EMS Center for training and resources. In 1980 STEP enlisted the support of all related EMS organizations in the area and was able to raise $100,000 to support the Center concept. The first location was in the Hollister Building of the Genesee Hospital campus, the former School of Nursing Building. Classrooms, an EMS library and all regional training equipment were housed there and administered by Empire 9, a federal EMS grants organization. When Empire 9 folded several years later, STEP negotiated with Monroe County and Monroe Community College to transfer the Center activities to the Monroe County Public Safety Training Center in Henrietta. EMS training is now centered in the new Public Safety Training Facility on Scottsville Road.

A fifth project, initiated in 1988, was the creation of the position of a paid physician Director of the EMS system in Monroe County. Through persistence, graduate research projects at the University of Rochester, Syracuse University and Rochester Institute of Technology and discussions at county budget hearings, the Monroe County Legislature in 1991 created and funded the position of medical director. The new county legislature administration in 1992 maintained its commitment to EMS. In July 1992 Dr. Dean Wolanyk was selected to become Monroe County’s first EMS Medical Director.

The sixth major project of STEP was the development of this EMS Directory in 1993 listing basic information about all components. It serves as a reference document for EMS providers and related organizations in Monroe and Livingston Counties. The Directory helps the EMS community understand itself especially as the people and organizations in the system change with time. It also provides EMS statistics for research and planning, since it is published annually.

Educational programs have always played an important part in STEP activities since its inception. These have included EMT courses for ambulance personnel and medical students, CPR courses for physicians and dentists and nine annual EMS management forums. In 1995 the STEP EMS Conferences began. Over 500 participants in April 2004 attended the tenth annual “STEP EMS Conference”. Our outstanding featured speakers were Steve Berry, JEMS cartoonist, Bryan Bledsoe, DO, EMT-P, emergency physician & author, and Will Chapleau, RN, TSN, EMT-P, Chief, Chicago Heights Fire Department.

The History committee, under the direction of Elsie Glendenning, continues to work with ambulance organizations in the region to organize and collect historically significant materials. These are cataloged and stored at the Baker-Cederberg Museum & Archives. Some of the artifacts are on display at the NYS Museum in Albany, NY, and locally at the Public Safety Training Facility.

These efforts over the past 41 years have nurtured EMS improvements in a cooperative and very cost effective manner. We are pleased with the results but continue to press ahead!