By Enelly Betancourt
Intelligencer Journal/New Era
LANCASTER, Pa. — Helping fellow students at a moment’s notice is what the newly created Diplomat Emergency Medical Technicians are all about.
The DEMTs, as they’re known on the Franklin & Marshall College campus, are volunteers who are trained and certified to evaluate and render immediate medical aid for students living in college housing.
“We assess you as a patient and provide the initial layer of care,” said Edward Stene, a junior who was trained and licensed as a volunteer firefighter while in high school and now serves as chief officer for the 20-student team.
The DEMTs are stationed in the Appel Health Services building on campus. A two-person team fills a 12-hour shift, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, when the health services center is closed.
Stene, 21, said the team members have the same training and certification as any other emergency medical technicians.
“The only thing we cannot do is transport a patient,” Stene said.
Immediately dispatched
When a call for help is received at the public safety department, the DEMTs are immediately dispatched. They ride bikes, carrying backpacks containing basic life-support equipment.
The group has gained the respect and admiration of its peers and the administration, a school official said.
During their first semester of service last fall, the DEMTs handled 57 calls.
Many of the weekend calls have been for alcohol-related injuries or illnesses, the student volunteers said.
“We are well-trained, and when we get called upon to help, there is no time to hesitate. Fear is not a factor,” said Ezra Rothman, a freshman volunteer.
Rothman, 19, works with an emergency-response squad during the summer.
Managed by students
The emergency-response program is managed by the students and operates with an annual budget of $2,000 under the oversight of medical director Marianne Kelly and Denise Freeman, director of environmental health and safety and a certified EMT.
Freeman serves as the team’s adviser and teaches a certification course for new DEMTs.
To be a member of the DEMT, a student must be certified as an emergency medical technician, be trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and have a grade-point average of 2.5 or higher, according to Stene.
The idea for an emergency-response services program came after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, when a student shot and killed 32 people.
“We navigated our way through the process of creating a new program and got the support of the college administration,” Zachary Flum, a junior volunteer, said.
The program was shaped into a quick-response, basic life-support service.
Class held
An EMT class was held on campus last September with the help of Lancaster Emergency Medical Services and the Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Freeman said.
Twelve students were certified and now serve on the team as first responders. Six others are currently being trained.
“We realized that our EMT training gave us a unique set of skills to improve students’ lives,” Flum said.
In the training process, the students learned how to provide a wide range of basic life support and pre-hospital treatment. The team also can respond to mass casualties.
“These guys help in anything you would normally call 911 for,” Freeman said.
“The services they provide are limited to urgent care, but we have other provisions for situations that are not considered an emergency,” Kelly said.
Mike Rossano, director of public safety, said the new volunteer team enhances the work his department does.
“We work to provide a safe atmosphere for the college community, and these students have a background that we don’t have on initial health care during an emergency,” Rossano said.
The team is in the process of obtaining its quick-response service recognition from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Copyright 2010 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.