Pagers/Responding from school?

[Richard B the EMT]

I am aware of 2 Volunteer Ambulance Services based On-Campus, at Columbia University, and at the Brooklyn College (City University of New York). The Brooklyn College EMS (Emergency Medical Squad), of which I know a few members past and present, responds on the campus, and a few blocks off campus.

What I don't know, and hope someone from the squad will answer, is, do they have assigned tours, scheduled to not interfere with classes, or do they get alerted, via radio or pager, to leave class and respond to the scene of an incident?

I would ask anyone in a college/university based ambulance service to answer for their service, too.

[itku2er]

Well I dont think there is a need for anyone under the age of 18 to carry a pager to school. Your school work and school years are way too imporant to miss out by running to a call when there are more qualified adults that can handle the job.

Terr

[AnthonyM83]

Hmmm....don't think this was an opinion poll...rather a policy poll....

[Richard B the EMT]

Hmmm....don't think this was an opinion poll...rather a policy poll....

I am of the belief that it will be the workers, not the managers, who will respond to the string, and it, unfortunately, will be, of majority, opinion. This is not to say that some manager(s) won't respond to it with policies being quoted.

[itku2er]

Well I stand corrected The policies should be against it, No one under 18 should be allowed to leave school for a EMS call.

Terr

[JakeEMTP]

Hmmm....don't think this was an opinion poll...rather a policy poll....

Perhaps. If it is a policy poll, the answer should still be no. No pagers or radios in the classroom at all. We don't have one at the service I work for because there aren't any vollies. 8)

[Timmy]

Thanks for your reply everyone!

Obviously I don’t respond to all pager activations, only the ‘bigger incidents’. Out of the 20 something times it’s gone off during school I’ve left maybe 4. Part of the contract means I must catch up on any worked missed even if it means sacrificing my lunch hour

Main reason behind all this, most vols in my station work full time and with this new work place agreement Johhny Howard brought in they legally can’t leave if their employer doesn’t sign the agreement. Were suppose to have the trucked crewed with at least 4 members (for non emergency calls) before it leaves the station (we have 4 minutes to be on the road from the time of activation) hence its me, the stay at home mothers club and normally farmer Joe from down the road meets us on scene. Were the only urban brigade within 30 minutes meaning were the only guys who have BA, Hazmat, rescue gear ect. Say if there’s been a chemical spills, structure fire, MVA or whatever then were paged to backup the rural trucks.

[AnthonyM83]

I am of the belief that it will be the workers, not the managers, who will respond to the string, and it, unfortunately, will be, of majority, opinion. This is not to say that some manager(s) won't respond to it with policies being quoted.

Why couldn't workers, where applicable, respond with their policy?

I just hate to see so many threads go south by turning into an opinion debate on an issue we've gone over so many times and always arrive at similar outcomes with.

[CBEMT]

College service. Student EMTs are allowed to go to class or work in their research labs. They all have radios and will respond from class. The supervisor (ALS-licensed college employee) responds with the truck and whatever crew members aren't in class.

We break the day shift hours into two different shift when scheduling the students so as to allow for enough flexibility that taking a shift during class hours is avoidable for most of the EMTs.

[ERDoc]

For high school students the policy should be ABSOLUTELY NO PAGERS. You are there to learn, not wait for the next big trauma. Get your education done and then go out and play. As for the college services they should not have their pagers on (unless they have a vibrate only mode). When I was in college I was at a big premed university that had an EMS corps. Talk about a bunch of wackers. They would sit in a group in class, each one in uniform with their pagers on monitor. Whenever someones tones would go off (even if it wasn't theirs) they would start talking. It got to the point that the professor had to yell at them. Very distracting and disrespectful. Bottom line, if you are in class (of any kind) turn off the pager. If you feel the need to be on duty 24/7, do it from your house/dorm and don't bother those that want to learn.