When a student suffered from a cardiac arrest in her class over at the Jesse Knight Humanities Building, Jaren Sullivan was there. When another student broke his ankle after he fell off his bicycle and his foot lingered in the foot holder on the pedal, Gary Walker was there.

Whenever anyone on Brigham Young University property suffers from a critical medical condition or a serious injury, a BYU student will be there.

At least that is the goal of Emergency Medical Services, located on the first floor of the Wilkinson Center. The service is staffed with 48 volunteer student Emergency Medical Technicians ready to help.

"In the past three years there has only been one cardiac arrest per year," said volunteer Kirsten Nicholas, 23, a computer science senior from Simi Valley, Calif. "We've already had four this school year and all three this semester have been students."

The volunteers are most experienced with treating cardiac arrests said volunteer Scott Ostrander, 26, a senior in human biology from Elko, Nev.

"There is no question as to what we would do to treat the patient," Ostrander said.

All of the volunteers with the EMS are well-trained, certified technicians, said Shane Gailushas, 28, a chemical engineering junior and a duty supervisor at the EMS.

To certify in Utah, emergency medical technicians must pass a set of written and practical exams.

"It's an intense course," Ostrander said. "It's 150 hours."

During the set courses, the technicians undergo training on basic life support.

"You train in things like CPR to terminal bleeding, to your own safety," Nicholas said.

Although there are three levels of EMT certification, all of BYU's EMTs are certified under the first level. The second level is an intermediate medical technician.

The only differences between the two levels are the drugs, equipment, and the applied interventions EMTs are required to know. Intermediates can carry advanced cardiac drugs that cannot be carried by those who have completed the basic level.

"I've had a lot of opportunities with the basic training," Gailushas said. "I've worked during the Olympics and for Iron Man."

The third level is that of a paramedic.

The EMTs in the program work closely with the Provo Police Department.

"They're who we rely on when we need more advanced help," Gailushas said.

The campus EMTs' jurisdiction covers anything from Y Mount, to Y View, the MTC and the Senior MTC, Nicholas said.

"Provo's paramedics response time isn't as quick as ours, we've got the on campus advantage," said Brandon Jones, 22, a senior in Psychology from Alpine also volunteering as an EMT.

The EMS office is dispatched to a call after someone calls 911 or campus police with a medical emergency.

The three EMTs on duty run to the call carrying two 30 pound bags with their equipment, and an Automated External Defibrillator when necessary. They use their van when an emergency is too far, considering time.

Jones has been with the EMS since his freshman year.

"I've always been interested in helping people out like that," he said.

He took a private course in Murray for two months where they met four times a week five hours at a time, he said.

A lot of the volunteers work EMS does goes unnoticed, said volunteer Noah Converse, 25, a senior from Byron, Ill., majoring in neuroscience.

"People just assume that all we do is throw on a lot of band aids, and we do our fair share of that, but there are some calls of significance that have saved lives," he said.

The volunteers give eight hours a week and an additional hour for a weekly training meeting held on Wednesday nights.

"There are a lot of positive experiences that we have, regardless of what people think," Converse said. "We're still able to help people and we're still able to grow and learn ourselves."
Copyright Brigham Young University 4 Apr 2003