Medical College of Wisconsin Emergency Medicine Darin Education Fund
Who is Joseph Darin?
It’s hard to overestimate just how many people might owe their lives to Dr. Joseph Darin’s work. This group includes anyone who has required local paramedic care, visited an emergency room or taken an unexpected ride in a Flight for Life helicopter. Darin is considered the founder of the Milwaukee County Paramedic Program which officially began in 1973.
“In 1978, he established one of the first emergency medicine residency programs in the US,” said Stephen W. Hargarten, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who succeeded Dr. Joseph Darin as chair.
Dr. Darin:
- Was an early advocate for 911 emergency services
- Established the Milwaukee County Paramedic Program
- Started the Flight for Life program, the first of its kind in the state
- Developed the Level I Trauma Center at the John L. Doyne Hospital, (now known as Froedtert Hospital), the only such center in Wisconsin until 1998
Darin himself said he was most proud of the emergency medicine residency program, something that was then considered a radical idea among other and sometimes competitive specialties. The biggest advances in the field have come from “men and women who are residency-trained, board-certified and proud to say ‘I am an emergency medicine physician,’ " he said.
