A plan for a new emergency medical service — run by students, for students — is currently being developed at Marquette University. Proposed by Avary Benavides Shefland, a senior in the College of Nursing, the program would be established in collaboration between Marquette and the Milwaukee Fire Department.
On Nov. 24, Marquette University Police Department Assistant Chief Jeff Kranz accompanied Benavides Shefland to a Milwaukee Ambulance Service Board meeting. There, she proposed the idea to start an EMS run by Marquette students who are nationally registered EMTs.
The proposed EMS would serve both the main campus and Valley Fields, similar to MUPD’s current jurisdiction. In its early stage, it wouldn’t have transportation abilities; rather, it would function as an emergency medical response system responsible for administering basic life-saving treatment on the scene. According to meeting notes, logistics for vehicles are still being worked on, but both the Marquette administration and Milwaukee Fire Department are “in full support of the program.”
The Marquette Wire reached out to Benavides Shefland and the university for comment about the proposed student-run EMS. Both parties responded saying they were currently unable to speak on the matter but would follow up with more information at a later date.
At the November meeting, Assistant Chief Joshua Parish represented the Milwaukee Fire Department. According to the meeting agenda, MFD aims to support Marquette if the university “wants to incentivize and support their students in providing some of the essential services that the direct student community and the near community needs.”
The proposal matches the fire department’s desire to engage the community and could help solve the challenge of recruiting young employees, as stated in the agenda.
In a Dec. 4 interview with the Marquette Wire, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson also said he supports the partnership.
“Whenever there’s an opportunity for us to be able to work collaboratively with partners in order to provide better service delivery to my constituents, including those constituents who live on campus here, who live off campus, students at Marquette University, then I want to see that,” he said.
The Aurora Sinai Medical Center and Dr. Anne Johnson, who works in the center’s emergency medicine department, would fill in the roles of service director, medical director and state licensure, as well as create operating guidelines for the proposed EMS.
A communications system connected to MUPD is being configured to oversee emergency calls; however, according to the meeting agenda, it’s atypical for law enforcement to have oversight of an EMS.
Officials involved in developing the service at Marquette are looking at the University of Rochester and Georgetown University, which both have established student-run EMS, as models.
Rochester operates the River Campus Medical Emergency Response Team, a volunteer-based program with New York State-certified EMTs that operates from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day. The response team is made up of 48 members, each receiving extensive training in first aid and emergency care. While equipped with a service vehicle to respond to calls, it operates as a non-transporting agency and only provides necessary care until another agency arrives.
Georgetown’s service operates similarly, with 50 to 70 undergraduates who are EMT certified, but with the addition of transporting ambulances marked “Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services.”
Services at both universities are free to all patients. It is currently unknown whether Marquette will have a service that is free of charge.
This story was written by Lilly Peacock. She can be reached at [email protected].
