As every lifeguard knows, speed of response is everything when it comes to emergency medicine. When I was in training to be an open water lifeguard, they drilled it into us every day: When in doubt go. I've witnessed first hand how fast a child can be taken out by a rip current, how easy it is for a nonswimmer to go from panicked to fully submerged. Speed of response becomes even more vital when commencing emergency treatment such as CPR or controlling life threatening bleeding. First responders, though excellent at their jobs, can only respond so fast. Saving lives is a heroic endeavor. We've all heard stories of doctors treating allergic reactions on planes or nurses holding C-Spine after a car crash. But how many planes don't have a doctor on them? How many car crashes go unwitnessed by a nurse? How many children drown on unguarded beaches? These are lives that could be saved- but how? I think what our emergency medicine system needs is a culture of lifesavers. Our healthcare system will forever be a work in progress. Treatment, and the timely and cost-effective distribution of treatment will continue to improve for as long as we exist. But just imagine how many lives could be saved every day if even one person out of 20 was a certified and trained emergency medical responder. What our healthcare system needs is a massive cultural and economic push to provide the necessary training to as many people as possible. I can picture training sessions at places of work, in schools and churches, everywhere that large communities of people gather. I can picture doctors and nurses teaching courses simply as part of their job. I can picture firefighters and EMTs and lifeguards and paramedics as instructors to a mass of people fully invested in knowing how to save a life. Not every death or injury is preventable- but too many are. Knowing the basics can be all that it takes. No one deserves to bleed out waiting for an ambulance to arrive- but what if every bystander knew how to control life threatening bleeding? No one deserves to die from anaphylactic shock- but what if every bystander knew how to use an EpiPen? No one deserves to die from a heart attack- but what if every bystander knew how to administer correct CPR? This idea of using civilians to supplement professional emergency medical response services is not completely new. A growing percentage of high school students are taught hands-only CPR and the process of treating choking, but I don't think that's enough. It'll be enough when we have such a strong culture of lifesaving that no one dies a preventable death. It's a hard change to make, especially in a world that so often lacks empathy, but I believe that the resources of our current medical system are capable of slowly spreading this education, of making this change. One day I hope to be on the frontline of a medical system devoted to this goal.