Posted on Jan. 6: Vital signs of McMaster’s Emergency First Response team

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/EFRT_opt.jpg” caption=”EFRT”]It's 4:30 a.m. and all is calm in the Emergency First Response Team (EFRT) office. With the occasional yawn, the on-call emergency responders rub their eyes in an effort to stay awake. They pass the time doing homework, playing cards or just talking about life. When they're tired, they steal to EFRT's bedroom for a nap.

Then without warning, the dispatch sounds and the team is called to an emergency on campus. They have two minutes to get there.

The atmosphere undergoes a quick transformation. Immediately, the three-member team begins to prepare. They put on their fully-equipped backpacks and grab their bikes, they adjust their psyche into medical responder mode, and they prime themselves for anything  it could be as simple as a slip and fall; it could be as deadly as a cardiac arrest.

“It's really a nerve-racking experience to hear the tone go off in the middle of the night,” admits Brenna Ammons, first-year EFRT member and bachelor of health sciences student. “You have to calm down, relax and listen to the dispatch carefully so you know where to go.”

When they arrive on scene, they immediately assess the situation. They've learned every call is unique.

McMaster's EFRT responds to a variety of calls on campus, from musculoskeletal injuries, such as sprained ankles and twisted knees to seizures, heart attacks, cardiac arrests and diabetic emergencies. They also are called to alcohol and drug-related injuries and anxiety attacks, experienced occasionally by students during exams. Last year, members responded to 385 calls, with two-thirds occurring at night. They called the ambulance 60 times and administered oxygen 26 times.

Team member Krista Adlington feels the EFRT is vitally important. “Without the EFRT, there would be a 10-to 12-minute ambulance response time, which could mean life or death to people who are having anaphylactic shock,” says the public relations co-ordinator and fourth-year biochemistry student. “It can mean life or death for someone going into cardiac arrest. It's four minutes before your brain starts to die from lack of oxygen and if the ambulance doesn't get there within 10 minutes, it's a pretty unfortunate situation that you're left in.”

Not just anyone can become a first responder. The selection process is intense. Prerequisites to apply include standard first aid and CPR certification. Typically, about 80 people apply and are interviewed. Of these, 40 are chosen for two full weekends where applicants are tested on their ability to perform the skills required to be a first responder. From this, 10 to 15 people are selected to join the team.

New team members must then receive certification in oxygen administration. There are additional qualifications they can acquire, such as the automated external defibrillator administration and Epi Pen certification.

Each month, team members receive updated training, organized by EFRT's training co-ordinator Morgan Hillier. The group also is trained on how to administer first aid/CPR courses, which they hold regularly throughout the year.

Team members must also be quick and strong. “You have to be fast and you have to be strong to carry this pack around,” says Adlington. Items in the pack include an oxygen tank, an automatic external defibrillator, a blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, Epi pens, for allergic reactions and glucose for diabetic emergencies.

While team members are trained to react to every type of call, it can sometimes be overwhelming. For Adlington that once meant responding to a suicide attempt. “That was one of the most emotional and distressing responses for me,” she says. “Our medical response is our primary response but there are always going to be other factors. You have to make sure you are prepared for anything. Not only are team members skilled at what they do, they have their heads about them to remain calm and cool under pressure and think clearly enough to improvise and deal with the situation in whatever form it takes.”

To help them do this, members debrief after each call. “It doesn't matter how severe it is, you go through debriefing,” says Trevor North, program director and fourth-year nursing student. “Executives come in and help with the debriefing and depending on the severity of the call, sometimes an outside counselor will come in to assist. At the time it may not seem serious but it can have an impact later on.”

North feels that by belonging to the EFRT team, students learn more than medical skills, they acquire effective communication skills, they learn how to deal with stressful situations and for some, they get a concrete understanding of what they've learned in the classroom. Typically, he says, team members are interested in getting into medical school, or a health-related field, or going to teacher's college or getting their master's or PhD.

When EFRT was established in 1982/83 it was the first program of its kind in Ontario. Eddie Wasser, medical director of EFRT, launched the program when he was a student at McMaster. Now the first response team phenomenon has spread across Ontario and is located at most universities. At McMaster, it is located in Rm. 103 of the MUSC, and includes a bedroom for people to sleep in if needed.

The McMaster Students Union service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Currently, there are 30 students on the team, working five to six shifts a month. The shifts are divided into an eight-hour day shift and 16-hour night shift. Three responders are on-call for each shift, as well as an executive member who has a radio to listen in if there are any problems or if team members need equipment.

If someone has an emergency, they can dial 88, which goes immediately to security and they dispatch the EFRT to wherever the situation is occurring. For more information visit http://www.msu.mcmaster.ca/efrt/.

Photo caption: Emergency First Response Team members, from left, Sandy Glover, Morgan Hiller and Stephanie Lau, perform a mock call on EFRT team member Brenna Ammons in the McMaster University Student Centre atrium during EFRT's recent public relations week. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay