EMS 2.0 - What is the next step?

Unless you're new to reading EMS blogs, you've probably heard of EMS 2.0 by now. A phrase first coined by The Happy Medic, it has taken off like a wildfire. If you are new to the concept, here is a basic run-down from fellow blogger, CKEMPT at his site Life Under the Lights:

EMS 2.0 is a concept that’s time has come. The Emergency Medical Services is on the cusp of fantastic change.

What we call EMS 2.0 is the brainchild of Happy Medic, but it is the product of every EMT and Paramedic that has ever looked at what we do and thought of how we could do it better. Through the brainpower of the readers and writers in the EMS Blogosphere we’ve grown the idea into something powerful. Maybe even revolutionary. EMS 2.0 is the maturation of the Emergency Medical Services. It is the growth of the industry out of the adolescent trade phase and into a grown-up profession.

EMS 2.0 is spreading like wildfire. In a few short months, the idea is hitting the blogosphere like a freight train. It is not the paternalistic style of “change” in EMS that is usually crammed down our throats by outside influences, rather it is the ideas, thoughts, feelings, and yearnings of the EMS professionals themselves that is driving the movement. And yes, it is a movement. “Grassroots” would be a way to describe this… So would “Revolution”.

Join us. I’ve been writing on this a lot since I started my humble, little blog. I think that I’ve helped to kick start this movement… but I don’t own it, we all do.

I couldn't agree more. People like CKEMTP, Happy Medic, Rescue Monkey, Greg Friese, Rogue Medic, and many others have been pounding the pavement in every way they can to advance EMS and in many way, promote the values of EMS 2.0, but it seems the movement has taken somewhat of a back-burner.

This time a year ago, EMS 2.0 used to have a headquarters, as it were. Any person looking to discuss the industry and what it could be simply had to go to www.ems2.org, but I wouldn't suggest trying to follow that link now, because it no longer leads to anything.

Which is exactly my point. Where is it all going? I have noticed that several of the #fireemsblogs have links on their sites for EMS 2.0, and the content provided at those links is invaluable, but they are missing something. They are missing the bonding element.

I am here today to ask one thing: Is EMS 2.0 that important to us? Does it not deserve it's own home? Hasn't it become something powerful enough that we should gather to it, instead of bringing it to ourselves? We have been kind to it, enough so that we have all tried to provide a couch for it to sleep on in our blogs, but maybe it's time we all grouped together to take the next step.

What is the next step?