By Heather Saunders

Sudden vibrations and the numbers ‘9-1-1’ from his pager send him rushing across campus to answer an emergency call. A female is lying on the ground almost unconscious. It isn’t her limp body that sends a quiver through his body. It’s her Smurf blue skin tone.

Three EMT’s rush to save her dwindling life. They call an ambulance. They check her vitals. They find out what went wrong. As her breaths become more diminished they place her on oxygen. They stand ready at any moment to perform CPR. Finally, the medic unit arrives and carries her away to the ER.

“Juma, we just saved that girl’s life,” Juma Henson’s partner said.

Henson was one of the EMT’s that answered that emergency call. He is the Assistant Chief, the Director of Operations and the training officer for the Emergency Medical Services of Lynchburg College.

“You know, I was not scared. I did not think. I just did. After the call, that’s when it hit me. I felt great. If I never did anything involving EMS again I know my training was worthwhile because I saved one life,” Henson said.

The LC EMS is a student run, all volunteer Basic Life Support rescue squad. They are on duty 24 hours a day during the fall and spring semesters. By dialing ‘0’ from any campus phone, Security will page the EMS crewmembers who are on duty. Emergency care, advice and first aid are just a few of the services they provide to the campus.

Students do not have to have any kind of first aid or medical training to join EMS. Once a student becomes a member, it is the job of EMS to give them the training they will need. This fall two students are part of an EMT training class who are also members of EMS.

As Director of Operations and training officer, Henson oversees the operations of the squad. He makes sure that those students without proper training attend the required classes, getting the training that they need.

Kasey Lloyd, chief of the EMS, works closely with Henson in seeing that the EMS runs as smoothly as possible. They are in the process of making several changes that will improve the efficiency of the EMS. They are trying to get new equipment such as folding backboards, spider straps, and headboards. Henson was successful in requesting a golf cart over the summer, which should drastically improve their response time.

Henson also periodically runs drills to improve the response time of the crewmembers. He says that after they receive a golf cart drills will become a common thing. EMS anticipates receiving a golf cart soon.

“Kasey and I do not want to wait until someone dies, so to speak, before we get the equipment we need,” Henson said.

Another change that will improve the response time of EMS is getting an emergency number instead of ‘0’. The major problem among the students who are in need of emergency care is this emergency number. When students dial ‘0’ they reach Security who pages the EMS crewmembers. Here is where most students believe the problem lies.

“It took 15 minutes for security to get there because security is understaffed. It took 25 minutes for EMS to get there,” Junior David Fanning said.

Last Sunday around 4:30 in the afternoon, Ryan Dehaven, Fanning’s fraternity brother, severely sprained his ankle. Another friend called Security to page EMS. The response time of the EMS crewmembers was a bit too long.

“The crew are supposed to be within five minutes of campus at all times. On average, we can respond in four minutes. The maximum is 10 minutes,” Henson said.

Possibly, the lack of the golf cart for faster transportation was the reason for such a slow response time. The fact that the students were on Faculty Drive could have cost EMS even more time. Security’s response time also could have been timelier.

As Fanning said, Security is understaffed. This point has been backed up by the fact that students often complain that when they call Security the phone rings and rings. No one seems to answer the phone.

“People aren’t always at the Security desk,” crewmember Jenny Shifflett said.

Aside from the lack of adequate response time at times, EMS has received numerous awards for their service.

“Duty calls,” Henson said, rushing off.