Collegiate EMS Week

Collegiate EMS Week is modeled after National EMS Week in May and serves to recognize and celebrate campus-based EMS.

There is a reason for the separate timing from EMS Week. “The problem with EMS Week in May is that the academic year is over,” says Dr. Joshua Marks, secretary of the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation (NCEMSF). “We picked a time to run a very similar program based around the academic calendar.”

The NCEMSF has more than 250 constituent member colleges and universities (with 15 being Canadian and the rest U.S.) providing campus-based EMS.

“These, often student-run organizations, are comprised of highly trained students ready to respond in any medical emergency. Student volunteers respond within minutes and provide emergency care tailored specifically to their campus community. These groups range from quick-response services on foot or bike to advanced life support (ALS) transporting units,” the NCEMSF web site states.

Marks says the number of programs is expected to keep rising. “Every year as school starts we get about 20-25 requests from people on how to start a program on their campus,” he says.

Marks adds that while volunteerism is dwindling in the general public, it is thriving on college campuses. “It’s to the point where some squads are turning people away.” He says that one school reported about 200 applications each semester—a number they couldn’t possibly even train. “The enthusiasm can’t be reproduced outside college campuses, but it’s great that it exists.”

To kick off Collegiate EMS Week each year, NCEMSF sponsors National Collegiate CPR Day with the goal of training as many people in CPR as possible. Further goals of Collegiate EMS Week are to help systems inform their campus and surrounding communities about collegiate EMS and about EMS in general.

Marks says they do get feedback from the programs on what they are able to accomplish with public CPR training and what activities they hold, such as health fairs, barbecues—and for the most ambitious, campus-wide mass casualty drills. He says the details will be highlighted in the organization’s winter newsletter, which will be available online. 

NCEMSF provides a free Collegiate EMS Week packet for download, which includes public service announcements, press releases and ideas for activities. 

“We’re very proud of all the programs that exist and all the things they do on a daily basis,” Marks says. “It’s about students helping students, and the knowledge they gain and the satisfaction they get through helping others and involvement in the community—as well as the experience they get with leadership, teamwork and decision-making. That’s why it exists, for both providers and the community.”