EMS Week: May 17-23, 2026

NHTSA’s Office of EMS proudly supports our nation’s EMS clinicians and recognizes their dedication to life-saving work on the nation’s roadways and throughout our communities. Every day, and especially during EMS Week – Sunday, May 17, to Saturday, May 23, 2026 – we honor the entire EMS profession for all you do to protect our health and safety.

This year’s theme, “Improving Outcomes, Together,” is an opportunity to focus on the many ways EMS professionals work together and across disciplines—with 911, healthcare, public health, fire service, law enforcement, and others—in the best interests of patients.

Collaboration and communication are key to improving outcomes across EMS, including better patient care, injury prevention and support for the well-being of clinicians and leaders.

Working together is also critical to innovation. This year’s EMS Week highlights an advanced post-crash care intervention that’s quickly expanding across the country: prehospital blood transfusion—the delivery of blood products to patients injured in a motor vehicle crash, helping to save lives and prevent injury.

EMS Week is a good time to engage with the community—to host a blood drive to boost the blood supply in your community. Even if an EMS agency doesn’t have a prehospital blood transfusion program, this community outreach event can help raise awareness about this life-saving intervention. For more information, access the EMS Blood Drive Toolkit; we hope you’ll consider participating.

Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of EMS clinicians across the country. We celebrate you during EMS Week and every day for the life-changing work you do.

Learn More About EMS Week