Worcester Emergency Medical Services (WEMS) is a hospital based, all-paramedic ambulance service which provides 9-1-1 EMS to the City of Worcester and Town of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Fifty full-time and twenty-five part-time and per-diem paramedics staff six transporting ambulances, covering approximately 60 square miles and a permanent population of approximately 210,000 residents. Commuters, college students and special events can cause the population of the area to increase to over 400,000.

The Department is one of only five EMS services in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to be involved in the Medication Enhanced Intubation study. This study seeks to evaluate paramedic performance in intubating patients using the assistance of medications not normally authorized for pre-hospital use outside of an air-medical program. The three-day training program for MEI includes anatomy review, pharmacology lectures on the additional medications, equipment introduction and practice, skill stations and a written exam. All MEI cases are fully reviewed by the medical director, as well as the committee overseeing the study.

All full-time, part-time and per-diem members of the Department, except supervisors, are represented as a bargaining unit by the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, Local 95. A part of the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), the Union is responsible for wage negotiations, protecting members' employment rights in disciplinary cases and presenting proposals to management on behalf of its members.

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