HEARTSafe Campus

About the Program

The National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation (NCEMSF), American Heart Association, and the Citizens CPR Foundation encourage and promote community awareness of the potential for saving the lives of sudden cardiac arrest victims through the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and increased public access to defibrillation. In order to increase this awareness, NCEMSF has developed an initiative to designate college and university communities as HEARTSafe Campuses.

HeartSafe Campuses,like HEARTSafe Communities, promote and support:

• Rapid Response by CPR and AED Trained First Responders
• Rapid Public Access to Defibrillation
• Early Access to Advanced Care
• Partiicipation in Cardiac Arrest Training and Quality Improvement Initiatives
• Public CPR and AED Training for the Community
• Engagement in Preventative Cardiovascular Healthcare Activities

The intent of this program is to recognize quality campus-based EMS organizations and their communities and hold them out as examples to other campuses as a means to improve overall cardiac arrest care. Information from this program may be shared by NCEMSF with other campus EMS organizations in consulting, seminars, research, and written material for the purpose of helping organizations improve the quality of EMS and overall cardiac care on campuses. Campus EMS organizations completing and submitting this self-assessment and verification packet on behalf of their campuses and fulfilling all required criteria herein will be acknowledged by NCEMSF at our annual conference and recognized for a four-year period with a HEARTSafe Campus award.

HEARTSafe Campuses will need to recertify every four years by updating and resubmitting their original application. If your agency is submitting a renewal, please try to update your original application.

Our organization has, in the past, declined to evaluate campuses that do not have a collegiate EMS agency, as we affirm that one of the cornerstones of providing rapid high-quality care should be a vibrant campus-based emergency medical response organization. Moving forward, we will consider the designation for colleges and universities who do not have a campus-based EMS organization, but nonetheless are able to meet all of the required criteria within this packet. However, in keeping with our mission of supporting student leadership, we require that this self-assessment and packet be sponsored and led by a student group on campus. While we do not expect you to apply for institutional membership in NCEMSF, we will require submission of an application fee when applying for this award.

Please e-mail heartsafecampus@ncemsf.org with any questions regarding the application process or the designation. Campuses labeled as HEARTSafe Campuses will receive appropriate signage for their campus. Additional signage may be purchased from NCEMSF at the conference each year.

Please note that this recognition is only bestowed once annually at the NCEMSF conference and applications, although rolling, must be received at the latest by the Friday two weeks before the conference to be acknowledged for that year.

pdf HEARTSafe CAMPUS Application (333 KB) (PDF)

Email: heartsafecampus@ncemsf.org

CPR Save Awards

The National Collegiate EMS Foundation will be once again recognizing cardiac arrest CPR/AED rescues made on campuses at the annual NCEMSF Conference. The recognition items are a uniform commendation pin and certificate which will be presented during the Conference.

All nominations must be submitted online and must be received by the Friday two weeks prior to the start of the Conference (same deadline as HEARTSafe Campus applications). 

Current HEARTSafe Campuses

2013 (Inaugural Year of Program):

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT EMS)

2014: (Press Release: pdf HeartSafe Press Release 2014 (179 KB) [PDF])

• Binghamton University (Harpur's Ferry Student Volunteer Ambulance Service) - April 2, 2014 news article
• Syracuse University (Syracuse University Ambulance)
• University of Massachusetts-Lowell (UMass-Lowell EMS)
• University of Richmond (University of Richmond EMS)
• University of Pittsburgh (Pitt SEMS)

2015: (Press Release:  pdf HeartSafe Press Release 2015 (21 KB)  [PDF])

• Fordham Univeristy (Fordham EMS)
• Georgetown University (Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services)
• Rowan University (Rowan University EMS)
• Tufts University (Tufts EMS) - News Article
• University of Albany, SUNY (Five Quad Volunteer Ambulance Squad)
• University of Delaware (University of Delaware Emergency Care Unit) - Press Release, News Article
• University of Maine (University of Maine EMS)
• Virginia Tech (Virginia Tech Rescue Squad)

2016:

• Brandeis Univeristy (BEMCo)
• Franklin and Marshall College
• Johns Hopkins University (HERO)
• McMaster University
• University of Virginia

2017:

• Dartmouth College
• Duke University
• Eckerd College
• Skidmore College
• St. Michaels College
• Western Carolina University

2018:

• Harvard University
• The College of New Jersey
• Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Arizona
• University of Illinois
• University of Pennsylvania
• Utica College

RECERTIFYING IN 2018

• Fordham University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Rowan University
• SUNY Albany
• Syracuse University
• Tufts University
• University of Delaware
• University of Richmond

2019:

• Bates College
• Rice University
• University of Massachusetts - Lowell

RECERTIFYING IN 2019

• Brandeis University
• Georgetown University
• University of Richmond
• University of Virginia
• Virginia Tech

2020:

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Universitty
• Montclair State University
• University of California - Davis
• University of Maine
• University of Massachusetts - Amherst

RECERTIFYING IN 2020

• Binghamton University
• Georgetown University
• St. Michael's College
• University of Pittsburgh
• Western Carolina University

2021:

• Drexel University

RECERTIFYING IN 2021

• Braindeis University
• Fordham University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of Arizona
• University of Illinois
• Utica College

2022:

• Boston College
• Quinnipiac University
• University of Dayton
• University of Delaware
• University of Denver
• University of Florida
• University of Texas at Dallas

RECERTIFYING IN 2022

• Georgetown University
• University of Albany
• University of Massachusetts - Lowell
• University of Pennsylvania

2023:

• The George Washington University
• John Carroll University
• Tulane University
• University of California - Davis
• University of North Carolina
• Western Illinois University

RECERTIFYING IN 2023

• Binghamton University
• Brandeis University
• Embry-Riddle University
• Rice University

2024:

• SUNY Canton
• University of Vermont
• Hobart and William Smith College
• Yale University
• St. Olaf College
• Washington University - St. Louis
• Clarkson University
• Norwich University
• Stony Brook University

RECERTIFYING IN 2024

• Fordham University
• University of Massachusetts 
• University of Arizona

"The American Heart Association applauds the efforts of the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation to foster and promote a stronger “chain of survival” through the establishment of HEARTSafe Campuses."