The Emergency Medical Care Symbol

Designed by Leo R. Schwartz, Chief of the EMS Branch for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the "Star of Life" symbol was registered with the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks on February 1, 1977.  The symbol was designed in response to the need for a uniform symbol representing the emergency medical services system

The six barred cross was adapted from the personal Medical Identification Symbol of the American Medical Association. For EMS, the six bars represent the six system functions - Detection, Reporting, Response, Medicine and Healing (Staff), Care in Transit, and Transfer to Definitive Care.

The staff in the center of the symbol portrays the Staff of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine.  In Greek mythology, Asclepius, the son of Apollo (god of light, truth, and prophecy), was taught the art of healing by the centaur Chiron.  But Zeus (king of gods), feared Asclepius might render all men immortal and slew him with a thunderbolt.

Known in later times as the "peerless physician", Asclepius was honored as a hero and worshiped as a god.  In many parts of Greece, the practice of sleeping in his temples became common, as it was believed that he effected cures or prescribed remedies to the sick in dreams.

Asclepius was often represented standing and dressed in a long cloak, holding a staff with a serpent coiled around it.  The staff is considered to be the only true symbol of medicine. 

 adapted from US Department of Transportation