Medic One

A Matter of Life and Death — 1969–1975

Seattle is the best place in the nation to have a heart attack.

Marley Safer60 Minutes, CBS, 1974

The key to surviving a heart attack is fast treatment. In 1967, three local innovators worked together to invent Medic One from scratch, bringing life support directly to heart attack victims. In some cases, Medic One resuscitated patients who were clinically dead. Each year, more than 1000 Seattle residents suffered a heart attack and died before they could make it to the hospital.

Medic One responded to that problem, as a collaboration among three friends: UW Medicine’s Dr. Leonard Cobb, Harborview Hospital Emergency Room resident Dr. Michael Copass, and Seattle Fire Department chief Gordon Vickery.

Medic One paramedics transport a “patient” from their van to the Harborview Hospital emergency room. (Seattle Municipal Archives)

As Medic One grew, Boeing and other community partners joined local citizens to support the purchase of equipment and vehicles. (Seattle Municipal Archives)

The team’s most radical idea was that firefighters could be educated and certified as paramedics to initiate intensive cardiac care at the scene and on the way to the hospital. The Medic One ambulance became a mobile extension of the emergency room. Beginning in 1969, young men and women rigorously trained to provide skilled emergency treatment, including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), electrocardiogram (EKG) interpretation, breathing support, defibrillator use, and drug therapies.

Medic Two introduced instruction in CPR to the general public, and more than 800,000 metro Seattle residents have been certified. The Medic program has saved thousands of lives in Seattle and King County, and has become a model, adapted worldwide.