Daniel Webster College’s Emergency Medical Services Club serves the “call of duty”

Daniel Webster College’s 15 members of its EMS organization not only conduct community outreach and programming for the college community, but are at the service of their fellow students in their professional capacity at the Nashua-based college campus. November marked Collegiate EMS Week.

According to EMS Club Captain and aviation management major Steve Lanieri, the 15 club members include 6 nationally-certified EMTs. The club, founded by Lanieri, organized in the spring of 2005 and started responding to on-campus emergencies the following year. Many of those calls, said Lanieri, a six-year EMT, are related to alcohol, traumatic injuries, and medical emergencies like chest pain and difficulty breathing. They also support the college’s athletic trainer at all “home” sporting events.

The student-run organization works in conjunction with Daniel Webster’s Department of Campus Safety and is licensed by the New Hampshire Bureau of EMS to provide emergency medical care to the DWC community when the college’s nurse is off-duty nights and weekends and during large campus events. As soon as Campus Safety is notified of an emergency, a crew of two responds to stabilize the patient and prepare him or her for transport.

Additionally, throughout the year, added Assistant Captain Andrew Mason, an aviation flight operations major from Monmouth, Maine, DWC EMS also co-sponsors classes open to the public in CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator), First Aid, and National Registry EMT-Basic.

Because they are licensed by the State of New Hampshire Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, the DWC EMTs carry the medical equipment and supplies needed for managing everyday emergencies, including a backboard, oxygen, ice packs, small splits and related equipment.

Some club members participated in Manchester International Airport’s annual mass casualty incident drill last September. Representing Daniel Webster College, they also joined thousands of members from more than 600 colleges and universities around the nation in Boston last year for the National Collegiate EMS Foundation Conference.

Members of the club may participate in an intensive 4-month nationally-certified EMT course. Courses have been held at Daniel Webster in the past. Other club participants may choose to become a cadet, certified in First Aid and CPR and working under supervision of EMTs, while non-responding members serve in auxiliary capacities to the DWC EMS.

 

After working with DWC’s EMS, said Provencher, “these students could choose EMS as a career related to their course of study or perhaps work toward a position as an EMS administrator, physician, or nurse.” The EMS experience also augments the skills young people bring to becoming a fire fighter, law enforcement officer, or emergency dispatcher. “Whatever path one of club member chooses,” said Provencher, “they can go as far as their ambition will take them.”

 

 “The best part of being a member of the EMS Club,” said Lanieri, whose “home base” is Branchburg, NJ, “is helping out and giving back to the college, as well as gaining the respect of our fellow students.”