By Dorene Dinaro
UNM Newsroom
The new Lobo Emergency Medical Services (Lobo EMS) student-run organization began patrolling the campus recently with the goal of providing high quality emergency medical care to all students, staff and visitors on the UNM campus.
"This is a collaborative project between the Emergency Medical Services Department and Student Affairs that has been in the works for the past three years and it's exciting to see it come to fruition and help us further our campus safety goals," said Student Affairs Chief Operating Officer Kim Kloeppel. "This is a proactive approach which provides visible campus safety and education by students to students, staff and faculty."
Lobo EMS is a structured volunteer staff and student organization made up of approximately 50 crewmembers including CPR certified volunteers, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics. In order to qualify for the patrol, applicants must go through a rigorous interview process and a comprehensive training program.
Crews are made up of pairs of two licensed medical providers, or one licensed medical provider and a crewmember with a valid CPR card. Crewmembers are provided bicycles equipped with all the supplies needed to perform basic life support — and being housed on the north campus gives crews easier, quicker response times for campus emergency medical calls.
"The benefits of Lobo EMS will be felt by every department on campus," said Kane Darling, chief of Lobo EMS. "The most obvious benefit of Lobo EMS is providing high-quality medical care quickly on the UNM campus, and because of our location and familiarity to the UNM campus, our members will be able to respond much quicker to 911 medical calls."
Darling took the first shift along with Erin Caulder, a Lobo EMS crewmember on Tuesday, April 7 from 2 to 6 p.m. Subsequent shifts run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every weekday. Darling says they are still looking to add members to the team and are hoping to move toward both later and weekend hours.
While the main mission of Lobo EMS is to provide medical care during emergencies, it will also provide an increased safety presence on campus. "While we will not act as a security group, we will help to report any problems or unsafe situations to the proper authorities," Darling says. "This is a way to make the campus a better, safer place for everybody at UNM while giving the Lobo EMS volunteers real world experience."
For more information about Lobo EMS, email Kane Darling.
By David Lynch
Daily Lobo
Students interested in joining Lobo EMS raise their hands during an informational meeting at the Acoma SUB rooms on Friday afternoon. Lobo EMS is UNMs first emergency medical service open to all students who would like to volunteer.
MedBow, a branch of the UNM Center for Disaster Medicine, is preparing to jumpstart the University's first student-run emergency medical services team, which will consist of student volunteers responding to 911 calls on campus.
UNM EMS Chief Kane Darling said the group's main goal is timely and efficient medical response to 911 calls — essentially being an extra set of eyes for UNM police.
"Our mission is dedicating ourselves to providing quality emergency medical care to all students, faculty, staff and visitors to the UNM campus," Darling said.
In addition to responding to medical emergencies on campus, Darling said UNM EMS will be providing standby medical coverage for certain University events. MedBow already provides coverage for larger events such as football and basketball games, but Darling said UNM EMS would be on standby at smaller events including intramural sports, fraternity and sorority events, and move-in days.
"Those events that might not have the funding for MedBow or another big group to come in and provide medical care, we could probably help out with them," he said.
The preliminary plan calls for two-person teams on bicycles patrolling campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in four-hour shifts, Monday through Friday. Darling said that schedule will likely change after determining when and where they are needed most.
"We want to get a feel for campus during business hours and see when people are calling 911," he said. "We'll tailor it to when people need us."
UNM EMS Lieutenant of Personnel Spencer Leiter said that as far as character, the team is looking for students who want to help improve the general welfare and security on campus.
He said they are looking for students who have a good presence and are willing to answer questions that anyone on campus may have. Anyone is invited to join UNM EMS, as long as they are a student or alumnus of the University.
"We're going to be utilized not only for 911 response, but also we will be promoting safe behavior on campus," Leiter said. "We'll be tied to UNM — just establishing an official presence on campus, letting the students and faculty know that we're trying to make campus safer, and that they can find a little bit of comfort in that."
The organization will expand on that initiative by promoting health outreach through forums, health clinics and CPR training courses, Captain of Personnel Myranda Riggle said.
UNM EMS Captain of Training Andrew Powers said that educating the community about health is a vital duty of EMS.
"That's an important part of (our services), the community outreach," Powers said. "We want to try and prevent as many injuries as possible."
According to the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation, student-run EMS services are overwhelmingly prevalent on the east coast, at private institutions. There are only seventeen in the western United States, according to the foundation's website.
Darling said that UNM EMS would be the only organization of its kind in New Mexico at this time.
He said there are various benefits to working with UNM EMS, including boosting the volunteer's resume, networking and the possibility of scholarships in the future. He said that hands-on experience is another very valuable incentive for people who are thinking of going into the medical field.
"A lot of people who are going into pre-med, they don't really have that hands-on experience," he said. "And so, if they are not sure whether they like the medical (field), this gives them that opportunity to say 'I'd really like to go into this field, this is what I want to do.'"
Riggle said they are in the process of creating the orientations and planning dates for trainings. She said interested students will be emailed about the process of applying and training as it is developed.
"The plan is to get all the training done before spring break so we can be up and running afterwards," Riggle said.
Aaron Miller, a senior emergency medical services major volunteering with UNM EMS, said they are looking to work over the summer as well, in conjunction with Albuquerque Ambulance.
He added that UNM EMS would stand alone in the country with respect to one connection the organization has to the University.
"It's going to be the first in the country to be associated with a medical school. A lot of others are connected to the university itself, but not the medical school," he said.
Darling said it is his hope that UNM EMS will receive an upgrade in transportation in the future to help the group expand.
"We're hoping to move to some other transportation, like getting one of those golf carts eventually, and possibly down the road, an ambulance," he said.
Daniel Juarez, a sophomore majoring in emergency medical services, was one of about 40 who attended Friday's informational meeting. He said he is excited about the University having an organization that he can get some experience in.
"I'm feeling like this could be really exciting and interesting," Juarez said. "It's a great opportunity to get some volunteer work in the field. I'm really looking forward to it."
David Lynch is a staff reporter at The Daily Lobo. He can be reached at
