|
 F
YOU FREQUENT the Morningside campus of Columbia University,
you might have noticed an ambulance parked on the quadrangle.
You might also have wondered why you rarely see anyone in
it. But if you see anyone wearing a blue shirt with CAVA written
on it, grab him. He will tell you why.
CAVA, as its full name (Columbia Area Volunteer Ambulance)
suggests, is made up of volunteers. It was started in 1962
in response to a tragic incident where a student shot a dean
several times and other students transported the dean to the
local trauma center in a station wagon. Although the engineering
school outfitted a station wagon shortly after to serve as
a formal transport unit, it wasn't until mid '70s that the
university bought CAVA its first "real" ambulance.
The volunteer organization has since changed its name formally
to Columbia University Emergency Medical Services but still
uses its original name. CAVA, which currently has 31 members,
handles emergency calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Most of the members are premed students," says Bree Akesson,
a crew chief. "But we also have a few graduate students and
a Barnard faculty member."
The members are required to take one 12-hour weekday shift
every week and one 12-hour weekend shift every month. In addition
to taking shifts, members must attend weekly meetings, as
well as various training sessions that are held during the
week.
As
hard as it is to keep up with the demanding schedule, when
on call, CAVA members are required to stay within five minutes
of walking distance of Morningside Heights. They have often
been roused from sleep during the night because of emergency
calls.
Akesson,
a Columbia college junior majoring in sociology, says she
has to be in at least four shifts a week. "Right now, it's
really hard to staff the shifts because we have so few crew
chiefs," she laments. "We can't operate without a driver and
a crew chief." As a result, six crew chiefs and eight drivers
have to split 14 weekly shifts. "It's a big commitment," adds
Akesson who joined CAVA as a freshman.
On
average, CAVA gets less than two calls per shift, but sometimes
there are as many as five. According to Dan Karlin, CAVA's
chief medical officer, most of their calls come from the campus
security. "They call us for medical emergency situations because
we are on campus and can get to the patients faster," he explains.
Losing
crew chiefs every year because of graduation makes the situation
even more difficult for CAVA. As a remedy, it tries to recruit
more freshmen.
Despite
the staff shortage, however, the volunteers at CAVA has gained
a national recognition for their work. In February, the National
Collegiate EMS Foundation http://www.ncemsf.org/membership/awards.htm
selected CAVA as one of only 11 collegiate EMS programs to
ever receive a "Striving for Excellence" award for meeting
the "Gold Standard" in the overall program including patient
care, transport and maintenance.
"It
was a really big award for us to get because it was a recognition
of three years of excellence," Akesson says, with a big smile.
|
 |
| Akesson
has been a member of CAVA since her freshman year. PHOTO:
C. Rae Jung |
Driving
an ambulance is quite different from driving a passenger
car. Ambulances have many blind spots and have to
carry patients. So CAVA stresses safety before speed.
The first step for trainees is to pass a defensive
driving course.
"You
can't be too aggressive driving an ambulance," says
Crew Chief Akesson.
After
the course, trainees go through an observation period.
With a crew chief riding in the passenger seat,
they drive around Columbia University campus and
to nearby hospitals.
Trainees have to learn all the one-way streets and
the best routes to each hospital. At a hospital,
they must be able to back up to the ambulance bay.
They are judged on smoothness, reaction time, stopping
and starting.
"The
brakes are really sensitive," says Akesson. "Most
of the time, they'll slam on the brakes and go 'oops'...You
feel everything when you are in the module where
the patient is."
Evaluation continues even when the trainees are
skilled enough to respond to a call.
"We
want to make sure that they are competent enough
to drive alone while the crew chief is in the back
taking care of the patient," Akesson explains.
After the observation period, CAVA's training committee
decides whether a trainee can be a driver. The whole
process to become a driver usually takes a semester-and-a-half.
|
|
