Originally shared with GMVEMSC member agencies on May 8, 2020.
Greater Miami Valley EMS Council offered sincere congratulations to the University of Dayton EMS, a student-run volunteer squad, on receiving additional well-deserved national recognition.
University of Dayton student emergency medical squad receives national award for community engagement
When a call for medical responders went out during August 2019’s “Gem City Shine” benefit concert, which brought 20,000 people to Dayton’s Oregon District, three University of Dayton undergraduate student EMTs responded.
“We were assigned to one of the first aid tents,” said Chad Jaenke, a senior biology major from Cleveland and 2019-20 chief of University of Dayton Emergency Medical Services. “We had people walking up to us with heat exhaustion and things like cuts. I thought our services were helpful to them.”
Assisting during the event — which raised funds and spirits in the wake of the mass shooting in the Oregon District — was just one of many acts of campus and community service that earned UD EMS the 2020 Collegiate EMS Community Engagement Program of the Year award, the first year the award was given. Jaenke and the organization’s other 10 student officers received the honor March 1 at the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation’s 27th annual conference in Boston.
Founded in 1992 and formerly known as the UD Rescue Squad, UD EMS is a student-run volunteer organization that provides free, 24-hour pre-hospital care and ambulance transportation for medical and trauma emergencies on campus during the academic year. This year, UD EMS had 63 undergraduate student volunteers.
The organization has received numerous national honors, including Collegiate EMS Organization of the Year in 2017, 2003, and 1999, and is a five-time winner of the Outstanding Collegiate EMS Week award, most recently in 2019.
“The University of Dayton’s EMS program is a national leader in collegiate pre-hospital care,” said Police Capt. Joseph Cairo, the organization’s adviser. “This is illustrated by the steady stream of awards that we win, and the number of other colleges that reach out to us and ask us how we do what we do.”
— David N. Gerstner, President, Greater Miami Valley EMS Council