![\"Bates](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/10\/240331_Bates_EMS_United_0396.webp\")
At its core, say BEMS alumni, the service is about fostering a life philosophy grounded in caring for one\u2019s community. In addition to medical know-how, BEMS teaches such powerful life skills as listening carefully to others, responding with empathy, slowing down to take note of your surroundings, and, fundamentally, how to harness the kind of rock-solid courage needed in emergencies, and not just medical ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the best things it taught me was how to listen to people, through looking and listening to your patient. We do not do that very well as humans,\u201d says Madeline Bruno \u201917, who is now a geologist but kept and used her EMT certification when she served on a volunteer ambulance crew just after college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, there are more than 250 college and university EMS services across the country, and most are student-run, according to the National Collegiate EMS Foundation. But not all are state-licensed like BEMS, which means it adheres to the regulatory procedures and policies of state-certified ambulance crews, a distinction that makes it unique in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At any given time, BEMS numbers around 30 members, many of whom also work part time on local ambulance crews such as United Ambulance in Lewiston, near the Bates campus on Russell Street, and others in surrounding towns like Lisbon, Turner, Monmouth, and Durham \u2014 adding another layer of learning as they form connections in local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe way you get to know your community is really, really unique,\u201d says David Kingdon \u201998 of Wailuku, Hawaii, one of the four founders of BEMS 29 years ago. Now a paramedic on the island of Maui, he served as a first responder coordinating medical care during the wildfires of August 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt builds confidence in handling stress and crisis. It\u2019s also about just having one\u2019s worldview opened up a bit, even for those who don\u2019t go into a related field. It\u2019s a great way to know your town at a deeper level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also a way to know your college on a deeper level, says Magid. \u201cBEMS has shaped a lot of the way that I see Bates. It was a lot of fun, but it also was sort of a leadership role. I\u2019ve had to be in some really serious situations. I\u2019ve shown up at a call early in the morning where someone was unresponsive. It turned out to be fine. But that was definitely scary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Magid didn\u2019t come to Bates planning to study medicine, and she took Bates\u2019 Short Term EMT course on a whim. But after responding to about 30 EMS calls on the Bates campus, she\u2019s been imbued with a can-do sense of civic duty that has helped her discover a purposeful career path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 30 years after it was founded, BEMS continues to evolve and offer students more. Most recently, there has been a significant shift in making BEMS more accessible to students, regardless of their ability to pay for training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three years ago, a donor came forward to fund the Short Term EMT class to make it free for all 16 students taking the intensive, 40-hour, three-week course, which previously cost $1,500 to $3,000 per participant. Bates hopes to continue to underwrite the cost of the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, students now receive academic credit for taking the EMT course, like all other Short Term courses, removing another barrier to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bates donors have noted how BEMS impacts the community in other ways. After three members of Bates EMS, in their part-time work with United Ambulance, were among the first medical responders to the mass shootings in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023, a Bates alumni family established a $100,000 endowment to support BEMS operations, including the cost of training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in April, donors again came to the rescue, as a Bates family offset the $62,000 cost of a new Bates vehicle. The 2022 Ford SUV, similar to a Ford Explorer, replaces an aging 2007 Toyota Highlander, affectionately known as \u201cHeidi the Highlander,\u201d used by generations of Bates students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis family has an appreciation for what these students do for our community, and in their communities as Bates alumni,\u201d says Geoff Swift, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, who oversaw the purchase. \u201cAnd we were thrilled that they were interested in supporting this vehicle for the students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the BEMS vehicle doesn\u2019t transport patients to the hospital, it does need to arrive quickly on the scene, carrying all the gear typically needed to aid victims of medical emergencies, from backboards and medications to equipment that provides breathing assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis car has increased space to carry gear, and we plan to design the trunk in a way that will make it easier to access our gear on a call,\u201d says Ned Friedman \u201924 of Park City, Utah, who served as BEMS co-chief this past academic year. \u201cThat will reduce wait times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n BEMS was started in the 1995\u201396 academic year by four students who all earned their EMT certification in high school and wished to continue as EMTs in college. Its beginnings were modest. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even have a basic vehicle the whole three years that I was there. Most of us were on foot or on bicycle,\u201d says Kingdon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, all four founders have remained devoted to a life in medical and community service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kingdon, who spearheaded the founding effort, is currently a special operations and flight paramedic with Maui County EMS and is also a professor of emergency medical services with the University of Hawaii. He has hosted several Purposeful Work interns in the past, including Friedman this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another BEMS co-founder, Michael Schlechter \u201999, went into business after Bates and now volunteers his time as chief of his Connecticut hometown\u2019s EMS, which earned state \u201cVolunteer Agency of the Year\u201d honors in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter Tilney \u201999 earned a medical degree from the University of New England and is now an emergency-room physician in Lewiston as well as the medical director of LifeFlight of Maine, the state\u2019s air-ambulance service.<\/p>\n\n\n And Pete Linkroum \u201999 of Baltimore is an acute nurse practitioner in the Department of Palliative Medicine at MedStar Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BEMS could have remained a private service, similar to what many other colleges and universities offer. But the four founders wanted it recognized by the state of Maine, even though as a non-transporting service it would primarily serve the Bates campus community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHere we are over 25 years later, and it\u2019s still an active service and a vibrant organization,\u201d Kingdon says. \u201cThese may be young people, but they\u2019re very mature and very responsible, and totally capable of serving and, frankly, running a small EMS service. I think it\u2019s important that everyone acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its inception, BEMS has been run by student co-chiefs with programmatic support from Student Affairs. This spring, co-chiefs Friedman and Noah Bachner \u201925 of Weston, Conn., met weekly professional staff in the college’s Office of Residence Life and Health Education to develop leadership and training opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the co-chiefs also now check in with Dennis Russell, United\u2019s education manager and paramedic program director, who came on as a Bates advisor in 2016 to help monitor the service\u2019s compliance with constantly changing state protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each year, about 30 BEMS volunteers commit to a minimum of five 24-hour shifts a month, including one weekend shift. During those days on duty, they remain on campus and carry radios and medical gear with them while going about their normal routines of attending class, dining in Commons, and sleeping in their residence hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dispatched through Campus Safety, most of the calls students respond to are minor health issues. But they have responded to car accidents on the roads around campus, helped administer bandages to stop bleeding, and cared for head injuries. In one instance, they provided CPR when a student had a seizure and stopped breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their response time to the roughly 120 calls they answer during the school year averages just three minutes. \u201cThat\u2019s excellent,\u201d says Paul Menice, director of Bates Campus Safety, and is the reason he can direct the campus community to call Campus Safety for a medical emergency. \u201cYou will get a quicker response calling Campus Safety than calling 911. Especially with BEMS, they have a quick response time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor us, it\u2019s been great having them as a partner. They\u2019re showing up, and they\u2019re doing it.\u201d \u2014 Director of Bates Campus Safety Paul Menice<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n BEMS also works at campus events, from Puddle Jump to Commencement. On May 4, they assisted Campus Safety to provide support at President Garry W. Jenkins\u2019 inauguration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey add another layer of (campus) safety and another first responder in an emergency situation,\u201d says Menice, a 35-year member of the Bates staff who has observed BEMS since its infancy. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s been great having them as a partner. They\u2019re showing up, and they\u2019re doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once a month, the students train with Campus Safety in mock scenarios to stay sharp for an actual emergency. The co-chiefs meet regularly with Bates staff and David Russell at United Ambulance to plan training sessions, simulations, and events, like one held last February when BEMS partnered with Campus Safety to showcase the work done by Maine first responders. The event featured a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter landing on Bardwell Field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “One of my greatest takeaways is the skill to be able to talk to people, any person, in their time of need.” \u2014 Jillian Sheltra \u201919<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n About 70 percent of the BEMS students go on to work in a medical field, according to Student Affairs. The exposure to emergency medicine is top shelf. But many BEMS alums say the life skills they learned are applicable in ways beyond the walls of a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn my career up to this point, one of my greatest takeaways is the skill to be able to talk to people, any person, in their time of need,\u201d says Jillian Sheltra \u201919 of Portland, Maine, a BEMS alumna who is a paramedic for LifeFlight, a nonprofit and Maine\u2019s only air ambulance service. \u201cWithout that, I don\u2019t think I would have ever developed personally. For that, I definitely credit BEMS.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n After she joined BEMS, Sheltra went on to work part time for United Ambulance, assisting veteran EMTs of 20 and 30 years. The medical care she witnessed those seasoned EMTs provide left an impression not just for its medical dimension, but in how it offered an intimate view of humanity seldom seen by modern medical practitioners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou go into people\u2019s homes. That is an incredibly unique perspective. I absolutely loved that piece of it,\u201d Sheltra says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This fall, after caring for more than 350 LifeFlight patients and traveling more than 20,000 miles aboard LifeFlight helicopters, Sheltra has begun medical studies at Tufts School of Medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sophie Love-Webb \u201924 of Lewiston, a former co-chief who worked part time for United, says working on the local ambulance was invaluable for getting her outside the \u201cBates bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt made me feel a lot more balanced as a student at Bates. I felt like I had a community in Lewiston. I had friends in Lewiston. I felt like I understood the Lewiston community a lot better. I left campus often,\u201d says Love-Webb, now a full-time EMT at United.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BEMS was a big reason Aleisha Martinez Sandoval \u201926 chose to come to Bates. Sandoval moved away from her family in Mexico City at age 15 so that she could attend a Texas vocational school where she could serve on an ambulance and get her EMT certification. As a high school senior she already had the goal of pursuing a career in medicine as a physician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really like that it\u2019s something that we have here. People feel that they can call us. Most of the people in the service genuinely care about what they do. It gives you a good connection with people who are passionate about something you like,\u201d Sandoval says. \u201cI\u2019ve known that this is my thing for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The value that I see in BEMS is the educational component. You can apply that level of commitment and growth and learning to anything else you do in life.” \u2014 Ned Friedman ’24<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Many BEMS students who went on to careers in medicine didn\u2019t know when they came to Bates what their path would be. But the service effectively serves as a broad funnel helping to guide students toward different pursuits in medicine, health, and wellness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe all come from different majors: environment, politics, biology, pre-med,\u201d says Ethan Baker \u201924 of Jackson, N.H.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Friedman, who majored in politics, EMT service has been a powerful source of finding purposeful work, including working as a part-time advanced EMT with United and at Durham Fire & Rescue. This spring, Friedman also job-shadowed Kingdon, the paramedic in Maui. He is now firefighter recruit with West Metro Fire Rescue in Lakewood, Colo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n BEMS has provided Friedman a path to gain practical skills, \u201cthe intricate world of emergency medicine, which teaches you, quite literally, how to save someone\u2019s life.\u201d He also values its transferable skills like leadership and how to commit to something you care about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe value that I see in BEMS is the educational component, putting in time and effort to learn and grow your skill set,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can apply that level of commitment and growth and learning to anything else you do in life, even if you put your license aside after Bates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His co-chief Bachner agrees. \u201cEven for someone who just drops into BEMS for a short time, it teaches great life lessons. It teaches you how to interact with people, how to stay calm, what you have in common with other people \u2014 just generally making yourself a useful human being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also BEMS veterans who pursue fields of work or study unrelated to public health and safety. The service helped them find their way, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After she graduated from Bates with a geology major in 2017, Madeline Bruno volunteered on a local ambulance crew during a two-year fellowship for the Island Institute, which helps support the public health and wellness and the sustainability of island communities along the Maine coast. Bruno says the experience of giving back to a community on Islesboro in that way was invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really got to know the community and, I think, some really vulnerable parts of the community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bruno lives in Augusta now and works for the engineering firm WSP in environmental remediation in remote parts of Maine, where commanding the skills of an EMT brings added value to her team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to have 38 subcontractors on a job site in a remote area and if something happens I can say: \u2018Call 911, obviously, but call me, too. I can help,\u2019\u201d Bruno says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mike Schlechter, a BEMS co-founder and an EMT since age 16, initially planned to become a rabbi to serve his community in a meaningful way. He ended up going into management consulting with a focus on employee experience design and digital transformation \u2014 but never stopped being an EMT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today Schlechter is the volunteer chief of service of Weston (Conn.) Volunteer EMS, where he oversees a crew of 77 volunteer EMTs, one of whom is Noah Bachner, the current BEMS co-chief. \u201cBeing a rabbi ended up not being the path for me, for myriad reasons. Being a volunteer EMT was \u2014 and is,\u201d Schlechter says. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s always been about community service. That\u2019s still true. Since I was a teenager, it\u2019s been a big part of me and my identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fellow BEMS founder Pete Tilney wasn\u2019t sure when he arrived at Bates if he wanted to go into medicine, or even if he was cut out for it. Helping to get BEMS off the ground and doing EMT work as a student proved to him he had what it took.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some 25 years later, Tilney then proved how well-suited he was for the life of an emergency room physician. On the evening of Oct. 25, 2023, when a gunman brought unthinkable horror to Lewiston, Tilney got the news on his commute home to Kennebunkport, Maine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He turned around and returned to Central Maine Medical Center, where he quarterbacked the LifeFlight response and the EMS crews that called from as far away as Boston to offer assistance in the triage effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professionals like Tilney know that there\u2019s no such thing as \u201cit can\u2019t happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOct. 25 was awful, but it\u2019s what we train for,\u201d Tilney says. \u201cThe amazing thing is that people\u2019s training and awareness really came together, and so we were able to take care of the community at large. We are sort of a big-small community. We are a really tight-knit community. So we were able to work cohesively, which was lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the fact he works in Lewiston is directly related to the experience he had working for BEMS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBEMS gave me that foundation and appreciation for emergency medicine. I wouldn\u2019t be doing this 25 years later if I hadn\u2019t discovered at Bates that I really enjoy doing it,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I wouldn\u2019t still be working in Lewiston if I didn\u2019t care about the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Founded in 1995 by four students with a budding interest in EMT work, Bates Emergency Medical Services, grounded in caring for one\u2019s community, is integral to how Bates supports the well-being of its campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-program-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/10\/E2_Maui_20230810-Aftermath_KINGDON.webp\")
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