Syracuse University Ambulance (SUA) received its fourth consecutive "Striving for Excellence in Campus Emergency Medical Services" award March 1 by the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation (NCEMSF).
This award is given to recognize Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations for their "quality in the delivery of patient care, high standard of professional education and service to the community in fulfillment of its mission of providing emergency medical services to its campus," according to the NCEMSF Web site.
This award represents the "gold standard for campus EMS care," the Web site said. Eligible EMS organizations can apply annually for the honor. If accepted, the award acts similarly to an "accreditation" for the EMS organization, said Heather Will, the EMS manager of SUA.
Each year anywhere from five to eight schools receive the award, meaning during the past three years, fewer than 20 campus EMS organizations have been recipients. In the past three years Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University have also won the accreditation.
The application for the award asks campus EMS organizations to talk about what special training programs they have in place, what certification programs the organization has and how they are involved in their community, Will said.
SUA has certification and training programs in many areas including first aid, CPR and "Hazardous Materials Identification/Communication."
SUA is also extremely involved with the campus and greater Syracuse community, Will said.
"We usually have between 30 to 40 members on the Goon Squad every year," she said. "We have members who help do fundraisers by participating in Relay for Life, and we have members who give up their Spring Breaks to go do Habitat for Humanity," she said.
SUA has been around for more than 34 years. It currently has 103 student members that all work on a volunteer basis, Will said. The students serve as a Basic Life Support service, which allows them to provide many basic emergency services.
SUA has a 24/7 dispatch service and responds to calls on campus and in the surrounding area, while also providing mutual aid service for Rural Metro (the local Syracuse ambulance service), Will said.
SUA responds to approximately 1,200 ambulance calls a year, and there is always at least one certified EMT on an ambulance, while the others have at least CPR certification, Will said.
By the time this three-year period expires, SUA will have had this "Striving for Excellence" accreditation for 12 years, an accomplishment Will attributes to its excellent recruitment and member retention efforts.
In addition to SUA's member retention capabilities and training programs, another critical component to maintaining this excellent standard of service is to keep up with trends and protocol changes, having the "latest and greatest," Will said.
"There are always new methods of improving patient care, and our job is to always stay one step ahead," she said.
myjiang@syr.edu
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