ROCHESTER, Minn. – The founder of the Rochester ambulance service Gold Cross, John Robert Perkins, died at age 81. He was praised for innovations. Among them was a recognition that ambulances could be more than merely transportation to a hospital. He invented the paramedic concept that ambulance crews deliver life-saving treatments remotely and en route.
Perkins. Launched Gold Cross ambulances in 1962 and sold to Mayo in 1994.