RIT Ambulance

RIT Ambulance

File:Ritapatch.jpg
Established	1981
Headquarters	Building 23A on the RIT Campus
Jurisdiction	RIT campus and property (excluding Park Point at RIT and the RIT Inn and Conference Center)
Employees	65
BLS or ALS	BLS
Ambulances	1
Helicopters	0
Fly-cars	1
Director	E. Cassandra Jordan
Medical director	Brooke Durland, MD
Responses	700/year
Website	ambulance.rit.edu

RIT Ambulance (RITA) is a New York State Certified Ambulance Corps, run as a student organization at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The ambulance serves the entire Rochester Institute of Technology campus and portions of surrounding Henrietta, New York.

RIT Ambulance provides coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year, except during institute closing during Christmas break. The ambulance is staffed on a volunteer basis by students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Relations with other Emergency Services Organizations

RIT Ambulance receives its right to function from the New York State Department of Health, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the RIT Student Health Center.

RIT Ambulance responds to all medical emergencies on RIT's campus. RIT Ambulance also honors a limited mutual aid agreement with Henrietta Volunteer Ambulance which allows it to assist as a backup responder when Henrietta ambulances are unavailable. RIT Ambulance is also a member of the National Collegiate EMS Foundation.

History

Template:Histinfo In 1981, RIT's Student Safety team became a certified ambulance corps known as RIT Emergency Medical Unit. It has since been renamed to RIT Ambulance.

For many years the RIT Ambulance Corps was only dispatched to emergencies by RIT Public Safety, but in 1993 became a Monroe County EMS subscriber. Subscription to the Monroe County system served to ensure that 9-1-1 calls on the RIT Campus would be appropriately routed to RIT Ambulance Corps rather than to the Henrietta Ambulance.

Vehicles

RIT Defib 63, with RIT 6359 in the background.

RIT Ambulance operates two emergency vehicles

Name	Year	Vehicle Info	Unit Type
6359	2006	Road Rescue Metro Medic	Transport Ambulance
Defib 63	2001	Chevrolet Tahoe	First Response Vehicle

Both vehicles carry a variety of medical supplies and equipment including oxygen, defibrillators, atropine, albuterol, aspirin and epinephrine which allow life saving response to emergencies.

Organizational Structure

RIT Ambulance is governed by a constitution which defines two different organizational divisions. The Executive Board is the primary body for organizational oversight and personnel management. The Operations Staff is in charge of handling the day to day issues of the ambulance corps. The structure of these groups are listed below.

The Executive Board is elected by the membership. Positions are filled annually or as vacancies occur. The only member of the Operations Staff that is directly elected by the membership is the Chief of Operations. The Chief is then responsible for appointing well qualified personnel to the Operations Staff, including the Deputy Chief, Lieutenants, and Training Director. Members then vote to ratify these appointments at the next monthly membership meeting.

Meetings are held for both bodies on a regular basis. Generally, the Executive Board meets on a weekly basis while the Operations Staff holds meetings on a bi-weekly basis. The meetings are open to all that choose to attend except for small portions of closed discussion on private and sensitive issues.

Membership

RIT Ambulance membership is open to RIT students, faculty and staff. While anyone can be a member, a great deal of training and commitment is required to become cleared in a position. Members who have cleared are assigned a radio identifier and are allowed to work without a trainer on the ambulance or first response vehicle.

Positions

The following positions exist at RIT Ambulance:

• Trainee - Trainees often accompany a qualified Medic until they become qualified. There are varying levels of training and qualification as outlined in the unit's Standard Operating Procedures.

• Dispatcher - Responsible for coordinating communications between the ambulance, additional responding units, Public Safety and the EMS dispatcher.

• Driver - Responsible for safely operating the ambulance in both emergency and non-emergency capacity. Drives to a scene, assists with patient care, and transports to the hospital. Must have CEVO or EVOC training and complete an extensive training course.

• Medic - Responsible for patient care. Must be listed as an EMT-Basic in New York and complete additional training courses including epinephrine and albuterol usage, AtroPen administration, and blood glucometry.

• Medical Command Officer - Responsible for handling any operational issues during their shift. The MCO also responds to calls meeting specific criteria including: more than one ambulance is responding or triage is required, HAZMAT incidents, confirmed structure fire on campus, motor vehicle accident with reported people trapped, vehicle overturned, or RIT Ambulance vehicle involved. An MCO may also respond to any RIT Ambulance call at his or her discretion, but will likely not engage in patient care unless requested to do so or under extreme circumstances.

• First Responder - During times where the ambulance is out-of-service, a full crew can't be secured, or at other low-capacity times, RIT Ambulance runs a first responder program. All qualified medics are allowed to first respond in an official capacity. First responders may use their personal vehicles, or Defib 63 if a driver is available.

Anyone not qualified in a position generally accompanys a qualified Medic as a trainee until qualified. There are varying levels of training and clearance as outlined in the unit's Standard Operating Procedures.

External links

• RIT Ambulance website
  • Constitution