SCU EMS Celebrates Twentieth Anniversary

Campus thanks volunteers for their serviceErin Fox News Editor January 18, 2018“Dizzy.” “Stayin’ Alive.” “Help!”These songs and more about health and safety were featured on the playlist for the SCU Emergency Medical Services (EMS) 20th Anniversary celebration.The event was held on Jan. 12, the exact day the organization was established on campus by students Matt Donnelly and Sam Suleman two decades prior.Past and present squad members gathered in Locatelli Center to connect and acknowledge the program’s service to the campus, and additional community members gave their thanks.Captains Brad Cloutier and James Mendoza with the San Jose Fire Department (SJFD) who serve as advisers to SCU EMS, voiced their pride in working with the squad, whom they consider a “second family.”The director of Campus Safety Services, Phil Beltran, also reflected on the services the team provides. He recalled a photo in his office of a young man who went into full cardiac arrest after a basketball game, whose life the EMS squad saved alongside Campus Safety officer.“The partnership we formed has crystallized into am unbelievable team,” Beltran said.A letter was read out loud from the Office of Housing and Residence Life, pledging up to $500 to re-do their sleeping quarters in the Cowell Center. Later in the evening, Director of Recreation Janice DeMonsi and Director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion Ray Plaza also announced their intention to donate $500 each from their respective organizations as well.“Truly this is to honor our past, and our history,” SCU EMS Director Cooper Scherr said. “All of the current squad members are simply standing on the shppulders of those before us.”The squad currently consists of 40 members, the largest number of EMTs the program has ever had. Twenty-six are rookies, and 14 are vets—those who are trained to serve as a shift lead.After the celebration, the four EMTs on duty that night went to Cowell to fill out a patient condition report for an incident that had already occurred earlier that evening.In total, the team responded to 10 calls that Friday night, from alcohol related medical emergencies to domestic violence.Contact Erin Fox at efox@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.