TMU's student EMT team helps keep campus safe

Many teams work behind the scenes to help TMU run as smoothly as it does. One of these groups is the EMT Team, which is crucial to the safety of students around campus. Their presence on campus can provide a new opportunity for students who want to serve or get experience whether they are medical majors or not.

“The EMT team is a group of volunteers who operate under the Good Samaritan Law. In our volunteer program, we require them to have their EMT certification, but whenever we respond to a scene we always act as Good Samaritan,” said Spencer Grubb. 

Grubb is a student and one of the co-leads of the team, working alongside Andrew Crabtree, the other co-lead. Both are passionate about this team and want to not only get the experience of helping others but serve the population of TMU as well. 

“You'll never see us doing any sort of advanced intervention that an EMT would normally do, but we're here just to assist, helping in an emergency until actual first responders get here.”

This EMT program was started before Elizabeth Wesselhoff joined on January 21, and campus safety had taken over. It was one person at a time, and she was introduced to the student EMT, Micah Vander Wiel. In getting to know him and other pre-med or pre-nursing students, they found other recruits for the next year. 

By the time he graduated, they had three, then it became two once he left. After that Wesselhoff and the head of campus safety started asking gentlemen to recruit others and build up the team. Since then it has grown from something the campus needed, into something student life and others have valued and appreciated ever since.

The team’s responsibility is to be ready to be called if someone is having a medical emergency. When they are needed, Campus Security lets them know.

“As a whole, the biggest thing that we do is just make sure that we have an EMT at intramurals because that’s where most of the injuries take place,” Grubb said. “Most of them or all of the most severe injuries that we’ve responded to aside from maybe one or two have been associated with intramurals. Basically, for any school function, we usually try and have at least one EMT there and then we also do 24-hour calls so if someone is sick in the middle of the night or they’re out in the middle of the night and they hurt themselves, and they’re on campus we’ll respond to that as well.”

Once someone enrolls in the course, they can start shadowing one of the other older members of the team to gain experience. Before doing this there are the minimum requirements to apply so the person is prepared for this type of work. 

“You can start shadowing once you’re enrolled in an approved EMT course,” Crabtree said. “To join the team, you have to have completed and passed an EMT course, and you also have to complete the national certification exam for EMTs. So all of the members of our team have passed an EMT training course and completed the national exam. That’s the minimum standard, and like I said, you can start shadowing if you're interested once you start taking that course.”

One important thing is you need to make the time for this course, and it must be something someone is interested in doing in the first place. This EMT course was built to cater to newer EMTs, so people who are looking to join this field can gain crucial experience. With experienced co-leads and members who are willing to help where needed, this team is strong.

Some advice for someone who may be interested in joining is to contact the team now. Both of the co-leads have expressed their eagerness to see this team grow, and Wesselhoff has expressed the same dream.

“I find it fascinating that they just are always telling me, ‘I was talking to a classmate and telling him what I do.’ They're very proud of what God has allowed them to do and not proud in a boastful way, but just in the fact that God has brought this opportunity for them to serve in this way, and so they want to share that if others have a heart for serving.” Wesselhoff said.

This team is looking for new members. They want people who have the heart to serve, a strong Christian character compassion, and competence. If this description matches any students, they would be encouraged to look into the team and get in contact with them to learn more. They are also looking for certified girl EMTs, with a team of all boys having a girl to help take on more of the female side of emergencies would be a huge help.