Star of Life

You’ve no doubt seen the symbol below painted on the side of an ambulance, embroidered on the uniforms of emergency medical technicians (EMTs), or stuck to emergency medical equipment. Maybe you even wondered whether it had any meaning. What’s with the snake coiled around the staff? What’s the significance of the six-pointed star?

The Origin of the Star of Life

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) was formed in the United States in the late 1960s around the realization that survival rates were higher on overseas battlefields than on U.S. highways. The high mortality rate on our highways was due, in part, to the lack of an organized system for responding to accidents and treating injured parties. 

As emergency medical services were becoming standardized in the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration designed and later trademarked the blue, six-pointed Star of Life to serve as the official symbol identifying EMS personnel, vehicles, and equipment. The symbol was introduced largely because the Red Cross emblem is (more…)