Author: Linni Kral
For the first time at Occidental, an Emergency Medical Training (EMT) program is being instated on campus. The program was started by Campus-Wide Senator Teddy Zou (sophomore) who began taking EMT courses at Pasadena City College and presented the topic to Dean of Students Barbara Avery. Zou first met with administrators in June 2006 to explore the possibility of developing a student Emergency Medical Service (EMS) program at Occidental. The college had previously considered instating a similar program and began working with Zou to develop the service.
Zou has drafted guidelines and a code of conduct to present to administrators, who will determine how the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) trainees operate. This group includes Campus Safety Director Holly Nieto, Vice President of Finance Rebecca Dowling, Interim Emmons Director Cindy Tru and Dean of Students Jonathan O’Brien.
“It’s taking time to get insurance papers,” Zou said. “[Campus Safety] wants to have the final call on every case but if [the program] is institutionalized, EMTs are higher trained than [Campus Safety] officers. To give a patient to someone lower trained is negative and can be tried legally.”
Emmons Health Center currently closes on weekends requiring all medical emergencies after 5 p.m. on Friday to be referred to Campus Safety. A student EMS program, however, would allow certified students to act as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), providing the entire campus with an advanced medical service.
Zou said that the decision to transfer a patient to the hospital will remain with Campus Safety. The program will not have auto-external defibrillators because they may malfunction, and they will not have an ambulance. Initially, trainees will go on ride-a-longs with Campus Safety officers, but Zou hopes to see the program operating on its own in the near future.
“I would like to see [the trainees] carrying radios, but there are confidentiality issues, someone could listen,” Zou said. Once in action, the program will deal with privacy by sending two EMTs to a sight, one to practice medicine and one to perform scene control. This person will control crowds and keep people away to protect the patient’s confidentiality.
EMTs are currently paying for their own classes at PCC and Glendale Community College, which last from 8-5 p.m. every Saturday.
“The first four hours is lecture, where we learn various things like anatomy, signs/symptoms, scope of practice, disease pathology,” Sara Camarena (junior) said, “The last four hours is lab, where we do the hands-on stuff like vital signs, patient care and transporting patients.” Interested students worried about time are able to take these classes in the summer as well.
“As can be expected with a program like this, there is a lot of red tape to clear and trust that must be built between the student group and the existing structures that must approve and regulate it,” O’Brien said. “I’ve attended several meetings and I can say that Teddy represents this program very well.”
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