UR Emergency Medical Services team receives two awards

The University of Richmond Emergency Medical Services team received two awards at the National Collegiate EMS Foundation's annual conference, held from Feb. 28 to March 2 in Boston.

UREMS received the Striving for Excellence award and the HeartSafe Campus award. Theresa Dinh, junior and president of UREMS, said the Striving for Excellence award was a self-evaluative process that is representative of UREMS being a fantastic service.

The NCEMSF website states: "Striving for Excellence organizations represent the gold standard for campus EMS delivery and care. They serve as benchmark organizations against which other campus based EMS groups should compare themselves."

The NCEMSF website also said the HeartSafe Campus award represents campuses which can serve as examples to other schools on how to improve overall cardiac arrest care.

Dinh said with the Hard and Fast campaign, more than five percent of campus was aware of basic CPR procedures, which made UREMS eligible for the HeartSafe Campus award. She said UREMS hoped to offer classes for full certifications of CPR in the future.

Nicholas Rothbard, a junior and UREMS provider, said Richmond's campus had 19 automated external defibrillators. Dinh said most of these were located in high traffic areas on campus.

Rothbard said the awards were a great reflection of the great team UREMS has on campus. UREMS currently has 16 providers, and they recently graduated a new class of EMTs, Dinh said.

"Without the University Police Department and campus health services, they could not have received the awards," Dinh said.

Contact staff reporter Brennen Lutz at brennen.lutz@richmond.edu