Yitzchak Carroll

It’s 2 a.m. and a student in your residence hall is having difficulty breathing. Across campus, a group of student volunteers are woken up in the dark, don their gear and race off to answer the call of a peer in need.

To some, this may seem like the description of a superhero, but thousands of students do this, driven to help others.

Some 10,000 students, in fact. They're volunteer emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and they're on more than 250 college campuses across the country, according to Dr. Scott Savett, spokesman for the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation. An increasing number of students, he says, have been volunteering as EMTs and paramedics in recent years, and campus squads are growing.

These ambulance corps vary in size and scope — some are independently run student organizations, others are part of the respective college’s public safety department and a handful are an extension of the area’s volunteer squad. Regardless, dedicated student volunteers work together to benefit their campus communities while saving lives.

Be it a car crash, a chemistry lab accident or an allergic reaction, these dedicated volunteers leave their classes, clubs and study time to help a student in need — likely someone they’ve never met. Despite the sacrifices they make, student volunteer EMTs enjoy their service and appreciate the difference they are making on their campuses.



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Just ask Jennifer Rios, a sophomore nursing major at Drexel University, who volunteers for her campus’s squad.

Drexel's student-run volunteer EMS organization has nearly 65 members and is licensed to provide first responder service on the Philadelphia-based university's campus. However, the squad cannot transport patients by itself and must call for an ambulance from the city's fire department to take a patient to the hospital. Drexel's student EMTs receive support and guidance from the campus's public safety department as well as medical direction from the university's medical school and a local hospital.

“The decision to join Drexel EMS in my freshman year was one of the best decisions I have ever made,” Rios tells USA Today College. “The best part about being involved in collegiate EMS is being able to make a difference in our community and being there to help our peers whenever they made need us. Although being involved in collegiate emergency medical services is very demanding as a student sometimes, knowing that all of our hard work is going towards making our campus safer is what keeps us going and I don’t think any of us would ever trade that despite it being difficult at times,” adds Rios, who also says that volunteering introduced her to "some of the most compassionate and dedicated people I have ever met.”

Not only do these student heroes play an integral role on campus — they also reap rewards for their service. In addition to the satisfaction of helping their fellow students and campus at large, some campuses provide free orreduced-price housing and tuitionto student first responders, among other perks. But student EMTs say the real impetus for their service is the ability to help their peers in their time of need and have a positive impact on their campus communities.

After being applying and being accepted to a campus EMS squad, most volunteers take an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic course, which consists of more than 120 hours of in-class and field training to prepare students to respond to an array of medical and trauma calls.

Many squads offer the course on campus, and some colleges award credit for the class. EMT training is beneficial for students aspiring for a career in a healthcare-related profession, and also serves as a nice addition to a medical school resume. Some collegiate ambulance squads offer advanced life support services and paramedic training as well. Nearly all campus student EMTs are unpaid and say that the satisfaction they gain from saving lives and having a positive impact on campus serves as their compensation.

Binghamton University senior Meir Berkman, who is majoring in philosophy, politics and law, serves as assistant chief and operations director for the Harpur's Ferry Student Volunteer Ambulance Service on his campus. Harpur's Ferry, as the EMS corps is known on campus, is completely staffed and managed by nearly 100 Binghamton students from a wide variety of majors and backgrounds. The squad is licensed to provide advanced life support care, as some student volunteers are trained as paramedics and certified in advanced lifesaving procedures, including the ability to provide treatment using IVs, narcotics and other medications.

“Volunteering in EMS has been a very rewarding experience,” he says. “As an EMT or paramedic, you get to see the impact of your work on your campus and community. As a student, it’s certainly beneficial — not only are you learning life-saving medical techniques, you are also acquiring an invaluable skillset, including time management skills and multitasking, which are in high demand in the world when you graduate. As is often the case with many campus activities, volunteering in college EMS takes time — collegiate EMTs need to be able to balance their important, lifesaving work on the ambulance, while still keeping up with academics.”

Above all, Berkman says that volunteering as an Advanced EMT-Critical Care has been a rewarding experience and encourages fellow students to follow suit.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to get involved and help your campus,” he says. “I would encourage everyone to look into volunteering regardless of their career path, as the skills you acquire are useful in every profession and make you a stronger individual.”



Yitzchak Carroll is a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network.

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This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.