There’s an old saying in the arenas of both academia and medicine and that is.."Publish or Perish!." To the medical profession, this phrase especially denotes the belief that if a physician makes a significant clinical accomplish and fails to publish it in a recognized scientific medical journal, then the achievements of the practitioner will mostly go unrecognized by the profession and the world at large. Many pioneers in the 60's era of medicine were just too busy in their daily practice and family life to take the time to document, write and publish their clinical findings. However, some did publish, and/or their accomplishments were documented by publications of that era such as the work of early pioneer EMS physicians Peter Safer, Frank Pantridge, William Grace, Leonard Cobb, James Warren and Eugene Nagel. In suburban Northwest Atlanta, a historic event would take place that would also join the historic accomplishments of these pioneer physicians with an additional EMS pioneer practitioner joining their ranks. An accomplishment that would actually pre-date a number of these physician mobile coronary care accomplishments by several years. In 2007, the Museum received information from a number of persons including a former nurse, former ambulance owner, physician, medic, retired ambulance mechanic and a retired Motorola radio technician, who all dated back to that era and who provided invaluable historical documentation on the following events that took place. 

In the spring of 1968 Dr. Luther Fortson was an internal medicine specialist and the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) medical director at Kennestone Hospital which was an evolving advanced medical institution that served the Marietta, Smyrna, Lithia Springs and Kennesaw communities of Atlanta's suburban Cobb County. That same year, the hospital had opened its newly designed and equipped CCU and had sent a number of its veteran nurses to study under Dr. Michael DeBakey at Methodist Hospital in Houston to model Kennestone's new CCU after that of Methodist. It was then that Dr. Fortson was approached by Edgar "Bo" Pounds, owner of the newly created Metro Ambulance Service in Marietta who had been tracking how NASA monitored the vitals signs and EKG's of astronauts in the Apollo Program. They both agreed that more could be done for patients who suffered a life-threatening coronary event outside the hospital and Pounds suggested that his highly trained former Vietnam War medics would make ideal candidates for specialized training that would extend Kennestone’s new CCU capabilities to patients in their homes during an emergency.

Dr. Luther Fortson had closely followed the advancements made by Dr. Frank Pantridge at the Royal Belfast Hospital in Northern Ireland and his pioneer Mobile Coronary Care Unit Program in 1967 as well as that of Dr. William Grace at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, NYC with a similar program in the winter of 1968. And he was also aware of what Dr. Eugene Nagel had accomplished in Miami in the previous year through the first use of EKG radio telemetry and the first use of defibrillation by non-physician rescue personnel.

To legally authorize Metro medics to receive CCU training and carry out advanced life support procedures, Dr. Fortson wrote Georgia's then Attorney General Arthur Bolton. He requested a legal opinion from the Attorney General as to the legality of Metro Ambulance Service medics administering such procedures in an era where no formal legislation existed. Such an opinion was also requested for the legality of nurses administering these same procedures at Kennestone Hospital's new CCU. In that era, nurses were prohibited from administering ALS procedures which could only be administered by a Georgia licensed physician. Attorney General Bolton responded with the opinion that "whatever is accepted in your community by the medical profession" was acceptable and would not violate Georgia's Medical Practice Act. This historic opinion thus allowed both CCU nurses and Metro's MCCU medics to administer ALS procedures and medications under the oversight and supervision of Dr. Fortson and pursuant to his active medical Board license. Metro was therefore viewed as "an extension of Kennestone Hospital's CCU by the medical and legal community.

By the Summer of 1968, Metro Ambulance Service had placed into service a Mobile Coronary Care Unit using a 1968 Miller-Meteor 54" raised roof Chevy Suburban model ambulance which was equipped with a portable Zenith Defibrillator, a Cambridge 12-lead EKG printout and a John Walker rotary phone EKG signal modulator/demodulator, a "Physician Black Bag" containing six drugs, three I.V. fluids and administration items, resuscitation kit and the usual ambulance equipment. The unit was staffed with former Vietnam War medics who had just completed the American Red Cross Advanced First Aid Course, the new CCU nurse CPR course, the three-day American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeon's Emergency Care Practical Course and a 56 hour Lethal Arrthymia/CCU Course at Kennestone Hospital which included both CCU, operating room and emergency room practical experience. Therefore, Metro Ambulance Service has the first advanced life support (ALS) level ambulance in Georgia pursuant to its MCCU ALS capabilities. When the NBC program "Emergency" made its January-1972 debut on television, Metro Ambulance Service had already adopted the term "Paramedic" to denote is original MCCU trained medics. It would not be until 1976 that Georgia would formally legislate the certification of Cardiac Technicians and Advanced EMT's (paramedics). Other programs soon followed the Metro model during the early 70's including the Dekalb County Fire Department EMS, the University Hospital EMS in Augusta, GA, as well as programs in  Valdosta, and Newton County.

The original MCCU ambulance was soon replaced with a Dodge Miller-Meteor raised roof "Medicruiser" van in 1969 and by a custom designed 1970 MCCU which was built by Miller-Meteor in a Cortez R/V chassis. By 1971, Metro was operating a number of MCCU paramedic level ambulances in both the City of Atlanta/Fulton County and Cobb County and, by 1976, the majority of Metro Ambulance Service units were functioning at the ALS paramedic level.  

It is interesting to note that this historic event pre-dated programs in Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Seattle and other cities by several years. Especially when a number of these programs were pushing for legislation that would not occur for several more years such as the Wentworth-Townsend Act in California. Therefore, this 1968 event is now documented and entered into the annals of EMS history to be read by future generations. 

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