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Paving the Path for Paramedics: Meet Delaware's First Paramedic

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--Prior to 1975, if there was a medical emergency in Delaware, an ambulance unit would transport the patient to the closest hospital. Ambulance drivers at the time did not have extensive-life saving training.

John Potter, the state's first paramedic, says he started as an ambulance driver, and his initial training consisted of a 27-hour Red Cross class.

"I believe. I believe, but I'm not sure, at the end of the course, we did (learn CPR)," recalled Potter.

Potter's boss at the time realized there was a need for advanced life-support in the field, so he sent Potter to receive paramedic training in New York.

"The ambulance transports the patient to the care. The paramedics transport the care to the patient," said Potter.

Potter went through a 40 hour course in mid-1973. In 1975, the first paramedics hit the streets in New Castle County, Delaware. In 1976, eight units were dedicated.

Potter was the first person hired and trained. He recalls carrying more than 50 pounds of what was then, high-tech equipment. Today, the New Castle County Paramedics employ more than 100 paramedics; men and women trained for more than two-years in the latest methods of advanced life support.

"Lt. Potter certainly helped paved the way for what we do today," said Chief Lawrence Tan, in charge of the Emergency Medical Services Division for New Castle County.

"The fact the medical community has come to value what paramedics do out in the field is in large-part based on what those early pioneers did," he continued.

Potter, now 82, retired as a lieutenant more than two decades ago. He says he misses the job and is so glad to have made a difference in people's lives.

"If I was just a little bit responsible for what we've got here today, it was worth all of the time I spent away from my family," he said.

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