At 9:45 p.m. on Wet Friday, EMS at Tech (EMSaT) maneuvered through crowds in the Greek Sector to set up their signature hydration station, encouraging people to drink water throughout the night. They had plans to stay until 1 a.m., but by 11:30, they were out of water.
EMSaT, formerly GT EMS, is the first collegiate emergency medical services (EMS) branch within the University System of Georgia. They provide clinical care, educational workshops and other services — such as hydration stations for major party weekends — that aim to benefit both organization members and the campus community as a whole. Since 2019, they have worked towards an independent, student-run EMS program that will thrive for many years to come.
James Connor, fourth-year CS/PUBP and President of EMSaT, describes how meeting other EMS agencies gave him perspective on how a quality EMS system in a new community can take a long time to establish.
“You’re like, man, it’s been a few years that we’ve been working on this, and it can be slow going at times,” said Connor. “And then you get to an agency and you’re like: ‘Yeah, how long have y’all been doing this?’ And they’re like: ‘30 years.’ And then you go: ‘Oh, that’s why y’all are built up so well.’”
Despite the fact that EMSaT has only been around for five years, they’ve become an important player in campus safety and health. This fall, EMSaT will partner with GT Fire Safety and the Campus Recreation Center (CRC) to offer CPR and first aid certification classes. The club also has longstanding relationships with GTPD, the Interfraternity Council and the Collegiate Panhellenic Council that help them broaden the scope of their impact.
According to Connor, EMS systems are highly individualistic, pointing to the popular saying in the field, “If you’ve seen one EMS system, you’ve seen one EMS system.” One thing that sets EMSaT apart is its three distinct mission areas: clinical care, outreach and education. Membership in the organization is not contingent on having an emergency medical technician (EMT) certification because they are committed to improving the community in ways beyond offering medical assistance. This policy helps make the club more accessible to people of different majors and backgrounds.
While many of the club’s members do have an EMT certification, a comparable number have no medical training at all. As far as majors, the club sees an almost even split between people who are pursuing medicine-related majors versus non-medicine-related majors.
Connor himself admits that he has no interest in going to medical school but continues practicing emergency medicine because he enjoys it and finds it fulfilling. Originally a member of the Junior Fire Department, Connor received his EMT certification in his home state of New York when he was just 17. When he arrived at Tech, he decided to go attend the general body meeting for EMSaT, where the club leadership asked if anyone had EMS stories to share.
“I got up, started talking about calls, and people just started talking back. They were explaining, you know, ‘Hey, that’s really cool,’ or ‘Yeah, that makes sense,’ or ‘Yeah, here’s some clinical things we can talk about,’” said Connor. “[It was a] really cool experience and something that really was just a great way to be welcomed to collegiate EMS. At that point, I thought, okay, I already like EMS, I’m kind of hooked at this point.”
In the spring of his freshman year, Connor served as the Field Operations Chair, setting up training opportunities for members. The next semester, after the entire executive board graduated, Connor stepped into the role of President, where he’s been running the operation ever since.
One problem that looms over any club at a four-year institution is sustainability. With an inevitably revolving executive board, many organizations find themselves having issues with consistency. To combat this, EMSaT overhauled its internal structure with a notable effort to include newer members on their leadership team. EMSaT hopes that allowing new members to get invested early will increase the club’s longevity.
Last week, EMSaT also launched a new logo designed by Tech student Parker Oelrich, third-year ID, replacing their previous branding that used the star of life, a generic EMS identifier.
“We decided we wanted a new [logo] that better reflected who we were and gave us a better sense of personal identity,” said Connor.
The rebrand represents a push to present the organization as a professional entity, which EMSaT recognizes is a necessary pivot to achieve its long-term goals. The organization also updated its website, featuring call-to-actions for anyone who wants to get involved.
Although the organization is still young, they are eager to keep developing and improving. At the end of the day, EMSaT is all about serving the community, and Connor believes anyone who supports that mission should check out EMS at Tech.
“Our whole organization is built on this ethos of being more than just clinical care,” said Connor. “We are dedicated to being very involved in the campus community. The operation stuff, as cool as clinical opportunities are, is just one small arm of what we do.”
EMSaT will host their first CPR class on Sept. 19 in the CRC Conference Room 231.