To the Rescue

Rescue workers of three different decades illustrate the increased sophistication of the emergency medical worker.

• Rescue Scene, Photo: 11/5/59 - Related article: 11/9/59 A private ambulance service contracted to answer calls from the fire and police after funeral directors asked to “get out of the business” of rescue.
• Rescue Scene, Photo: 1/3/74 (Jim Strickland) - Article: 1/4/74 By the 1970s, the Charlotte Life Saving Crew was on the job.
• Rescue Scene, Photo: 7/16/90 (T. Ortega Gaines) - Article: 7/17/90 Today’s rescue workers are known as Emergency Medical Technicians.

Firefighters

• Photos February 10, 1961, Article: February 11, 1961. The Southern Drug Company, 1400 E. Morehead, burned with such intensity that special equipment was required to enter the building. Up close and personal, the media were on the job as the fire roared at the Southern Drug Co. on Morehead Street. 

Hospitals

• Photo: 10/8/58 - Article: 10/9/58 - State-of-the-art equipment arrived at Presbyterian Hospital at a cost of $30,000. A “Cobalt-60” machine for cancer treatment using radiation was installed in a specially designed room in the hospital’s basement. Hospital employees demonstrate treatment.
• Photo c. 1960 - 1961 - Article: unknown. Young women were steered to traditional roles e.g. nursing via volunteer activities such as being a candystriper. Now known as junior volunteers, boys and girls 13 and older can get a first-hand look at the variety of health care careers.

         Photo: 9/22/94 (Gary O’Brien) Related article: 6/10/92.  Carolinas Medical Center