Tufts Emergency Medical Services
Tufts Emergency Medical Services, Tufts EMS, or TEMS is the emergency medical service organization for Tufts University. Commonly referred to as TEMS, it is an organization under the Department Of Public Safety and consists of students who are all trained and certified as EMT-Basics.
AbOUT TEMS
TEMS is a student organization that provides emergency medical care for the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus.
Since 1985, Tufts Emergency Medical Services has provided prompt, quality medical aid to the Tufts Community. TEMS is in service during the school year 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students who are Massachusetts-certified Emergency Medical Technicians volunteer their time to care for the sick and injured with competency and compassion.
Each year TEMS volunteers respond to more than 350 requests for aid. The call volume ranges from non-emergency calls to life-threatening emergencies. During automobile accidents, heart attacks, asthma attacks or other life-threatening emergencies the rapid response often helps make the difference between life and death. All of the EMTs are trained to the highest standards, with continuing education sessions held throughout the school year to expand and hone the skills of members.
TEMS is an entirely student-run organization. An elected board of directors manages TEMS. They are funded by and operate under the authority of the Tufts University Department of Public Safety. TEMS works with and enjoys the support of Tufts University Police Department, Tufts University Health Services, the Dean of Students Office and the entire student body.
A specially equipped Ford Explorer was put into service in February 2003, replacing the previous response vehicle. All equipment that would be found on a normal Basic Life Support ambulance is carried in the TEMS truck, which is a Class V Ambulance. Enhanced basic life support equipment including a cardiac defibrillator is also carried. In the event that a patient needs to be transported to a hospital the services of a private ambulance company are called upon. If a patient's condition is critical an Advanced Life Support unit from any of the nearby ambulance companies can be summoned.
History of TEMS
In the fall of 1984, David Levitt, a Tufts University Senior, recognized the need for Tufts University to have quality emergency medical care available faster than it was being provided by area agencies. He approached two friends, David Janfaze and Craig Vinch, asking them to help him make a campus-based student-run emergency service a reality at Tufts. The three worked hard during the year, researching campus-based EMS groups that were already established elsewhere across the country. In the spring of 1985, their dream began to take shape; the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate officially recognized Tufts Emergency Medical Services. The victory, however, was small. The TCU did not grant TEMS any funding for the 1984-85 school year. Yet it was a beginning.
The fall of 1985 was a time of recruitment for new members. The founders of TEMS went out onto the campus looking for interested individuals who already possessed EMT or First Responder certification. They did not find many - when TEMS officially entered into service on Monday, April 6, 1986, TEMS had only four members. Between them, they managed to cover shifts that ran from 5:00 pm to 7:00 am on weekdays, and 24 hours on weekends. Their only equipment consisted of radios for communication with Tufts Police, jump kits and an oxygen tank. All responses had to be made on foot, regardless of the time or weather. Despite the relative lack of familiarity with such a service, Tufts students used TEMS seven times in the first week of operation. TEMS was off!
The year of 1986-87 was also a busy one for this new organization. In addition to gaining four new members for a grand total of eight, TEMS set its sights on eliminating some of the foot work involved with emergency response. During that year, TEMS members lobbied the TCU Senate to provide them with enough funding to purchase a used 1987 MiniRam van. The van did not drive very well; it hated to start on cold mornings, and it had a rattle that would make th driver wonder if it would hold together over the next pebble. Unfortunately, there was no choice - while test-driving the vehicle Craig Vinch was involved in a minor accident. Like it or not, TEMS had a new vehicle.
While the year before TEMS was plagued by lack of publicity and budget problems, the year of 1987-88 held promise. Carl Weinstein, a paramedic and EMT instructor from Boston was to be offering a Basic EMT course on campus, and twenty-three students were enrolled in the class. Also, TEMS received its "new" MiniRam van, which would sometimes make responding easier. Fueled with many new members, and an ever-increasing call volume, TEMS plunged headlong into the next year.
The fall of 1988 helped to solve some of TEMS's publicity problems when they received many commendations and a significant amount of Tufts Daily coverage after responding to a student injured in a fall off a Miller Hall balcony. The added respect, along with other changes prompted TEMS to go full-time. From December 5 to 14, TEMS began a 24-hour coverage trial period. The trial was a success, and TEMS broke for the winter vacation knowing that when they returned, TEMS would be in service twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
In the spring, TEMS quickly discovered a problem with twenty-four hour shifts. The radios that they had used were not capable of being in operation all the time. TEMS approached the TCU Senate to ask for buffer funding in order to purchase a few new radios and batteries - and met a brick wall head on. Joel Sunshine, one of the members of the Allocations Board (ALBO), did not like TEMS, did not think that the TCU should have to pay TEMS for anything, and was very vocal in his beliefs. The Tufts Daily quoted him as saying, "If ALBO was made up of me times nine, TEMS would have gotten zero."
Faced with dying radios, and the very real possibility of missing calls, TEMS was forced to act desperately. With the support of the Tufts Community, TEMS suspended service at seven am on Thursday, February ninth. In response, Dean Reitman paid for the new radios out of a University fund reserved for student groups. The situation resolved, TEMS was able to return to service at five pm the very same night. Ever since, those ten hours on February ninth are the longest amount of time that TEMS has been out of service in its history.
Given new University support, TEMS continued to provide quality service to the Tufts Community. However, the MiniRam van that had served so faithfully was breathing its dying breaths, and needed to be replaced. In the fall of 1991, TEMS received a brand-new Ford Explorer, complete with a strobe lighting package, courtesy of the Department of Public Safety. As it turns out, the vehicle was not just very nice, it was very necessary. TEMS's call volume continued to increase every year, and TEMS was then responding to almost three hundred calls for aid a year.
Today, TEMS continues to look forward to advancing in the field of campus based EMS services. The TEMS membership has grown to about thirty motivated young men and women who provide compassionate, professional service to the Tufts Community every day throughout the fall and spring semesters. Enthusiastic support from the Department of Public Safety will help allow TEMS to grow every year. Hopes for the future include increasing our service to the Tufts Community, as well as the surrounding area.
See also
- Emergency medical technician
- Emergency medical services in the United States
- Emergency medicine
External links
- Tufts University
- TEMS website
- National Collegiate EMS Foundation (NCEMSF)
- 911learning.com
- Massachusetts OEMS
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