Remembering Jim Page
James O. Page was a true icon, a person who did more than anyone to ignite the modern emergency medical service (EMS). Even 22 years after his death, he persists in the hearts and minds of many in the emergency services, a legend who died too young. Ironically, he had a heart attack in 2004 while swimming his daily laps.
Friday, August 7, 2026, would have been Jim’s 90th birthday. A day later, about 150 people gathered at the Los Angeles County Fire Museum to toast his memory and view a nearly-complete full length documentary film, “This Life, After All,” about Jim’s life and impact upon us.
Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Jim’s influence ended up spiraling outward to, well, most of the world. From his beginnings as an “ambulance attendant” in East Los Angeles and then firefighter for Monterey Park, he served with Los Angeles County Fire Department. Eventually, as a battalion chief, Jim caught the eye of TV producer Jack Webb and was invited to be the technical advisor to the seminal show, “Emergency!” That program, which NBC ran for 122 episodes, lasted from January, 1972 through May, 1977.
Dress code for the event: Hawaiian shirts (Jim’s favorite), with many reunions happening at cocktail hour
“Emergency!” was instrumental in pulling us from the dark ages when funeral homes did most of the transporting (often with no one riding with the patient in the back). It introduced high-level, life-saving care by advanced-care paramedics. Jim Page was there, on the set, working alongside another EMS icon, Ron Stewart, MD, to make sure that what viewers saw was decently realistic both medically and technically from the perspective of the fire service. “Emergency!” was a game-changer. It was directly responsible for many (including me) to say, “I want to do that.”
Filmmaker Mark Jacobs (left) speaking with Jim Page’s look-alike son, Andy Page (right)
But that wasn’t enough for Jim Page. He earned his J.D. while juggling a young family and the fire service. He kept pushing the envelope of the brave new world of prehospital care. He went on from LA County Fire to become the first state director of North Carolina’s new EMS system in 1973, then in 1975, he helped form an eight-county EMS system in western New York state. The chance to serve as Executive Director of the ACT Foundation led Jim to speak on behalf of modern EMS development at some 71 conferences, symposia, and seminars in 44 states in one year alone in the mid-70s. Somehow, Jim found time to write books, too. His most well known: “The Paramedics,” published in 1979, and “The Magic of 3 A.M.” published in 1986.
I met Jim Page in February 1979 at an EMS conference in New Orleans. He, as publisher, and Keith Griffiths, as editor, were poised to launch a new EMS magazine, the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, familiarly known as JEMS. I offered my journalism and paramedicine credentials in a casual conversation. They invited me to give them some writing ideas, and Keith called with an assignment the following week. The rest, as they say, is history. Opportunities to write articles, columns, even books and video scripts followed, plus 20 years of invitations to speak at EMS conferences...all because Jim Page and Keith Griffiths had the vision and capacity to create the most well-respected and eagerly-read EMS publication anywhere and give me a voice.
My story is not the only one. Dozens, probably hundreds, of others can point back to when they got their wings from Jim Page. He was like that. He was the sort of man who made you feel like you were the only other person in the room. He listened. He was whip-smart. He never forgot a face or name. He had vision for the world of EMS, and delivered it in his baritone voice, mesmerizing his audiences both with what he had to say, and how he said it.
The gathering in Bellflower, California in August 2026 was a reunion of many who gained their own prominence over the past fifty years, and others who have come in behind them. It was humbling to be among many of the industry’s “big names,” all gathered to pay honor to someone who had been for them a powerful guide and mentor. The film, being wrapped after a year-plus of dedicated work by Emmy-winning documentarian Mark Jacobs (https://individuallywrappedfilms.com/biography) brought more than one person to tears during its showing that night. What a tribute to an unforgettable man. Watch for it coming soon!
See the trailer at: https://individuallywrappedfilms.com/copy-of-this-life-after-all
