4 | GEMS
sions where a traffic accident, or a heart
attack, or some other dire or dangerous
physical impact prompted a 9-1-1 call
and the urgent dispatch of those who tru-
ly stand out as some of the most stellar
professionals serving in emergency medi-
cal services today. Greenwich Emergency
Medical Services, or GEMS, is a not-for-
profit, sole provider of advanced life sup-
port emergency services to the people of
Greenwich. Throughout the 27 years of its
operation, numerous lives have not only
been saved from death, but spared from
greater physical impact which may have
otherwise resulted from their injuries
due in large credit to the speed, expertise
and quality in the care imparted by these
emergency responders. GEMS is a na-
tional leader in “cardiac save rates” which
annually figures between 35 to 40%, yet
is a remarkable 55% this year (more than
three times better than the national aver-
age). This means that after EMS respond-
ed to a patient enduring cardiac arrest, in
more than half of those encounters, the
patient fully recovered, neurologically
intact. GEMS Executive Director Char-
lee Tufts attributes that achievement to
