{"id":37556,"date":"2025-04-17T14:42:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=37556"},"modified":"2025-04-25T09:40:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:40:53","slug":"student-emt-revives-emergency-medicine-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/student-emt-revives-emergency-medicine-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Student EMT revives emergency medicine club"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some Furman University students, living a life of purpose means keeping others alive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rob Duckett \u201926 was certified as an emergency medical technician in high school. When he came to Furman, the psychology major wanted to deepen his social connections while sharing his passion for emergency medicine. It inspired him to revitalize a dormant student organization: Furman University Responders.<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something really profound about the ability to show up at somebody\u2019s worst moment and provide them help,\u201d Duckett said. \u201cI wanted other students to be able to experience that sort of feeling.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furman University Responders<\/h3>\n

Furman University Responders is a student-run club with about 200 members offering training workshops and informational events for students interested in providing pre-hospital care for medical emergencies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Duckett is the group\u2019s president. He\u2019s now an advanced EMT working part-time in Greenwood County when he can while studying at Furman. He\u2019s a certified instructor for basic life support and emergency medical response \u2014 skills used by firefighters and first responders. Students who get these certifications will have a taste of what it\u2019s like to pursue the more-involved training needed to be an EMT or a paramedic, Duckett said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Medical bags used by Furman University Responders lie on a table at the Furman University Police Department on Thursday, March 27. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

The group also organizes CLP and other events that bring health<\/span> care professionals to campus to share insights from their careers. In March, South Carolina Department of Public Health experts joined a panel to discuss the intersection of substance use and STDs. Greenville County EMS Medical Director Martin Lutz visited the group to talk about work-life balance in an emergency medicine career. The club also invited State Department of Health and Environmental Control officials to host a training on how to treat an overdose by administering Narcan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are things you might hear about on the news, but you don\u2019t really think about them unless you know someone who\u2019s dealing with it,\u201d said Kadence Alexander \u201926, vice president of operations for Furman University Responders.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Furman Advantage<\/h3>\n

Furman University Responders plays to the strengths of The Furman Advantage by helping students discover their passion for medicine and caring for others. Duckett didn\u2019t anticipate the attention the group would get from pre-med students<\/a> wanting to explore possible career paths.<\/span><\/p>\n

Practicing life-saving medical response techniques connects their academic experiences with practical applications, Duckett said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through training and meeting with current medical professionals, students also pick up on skills like \u201chow to interact with patients and provide compassionate care,\u201d Duckett said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Connecting students with possible career paths was part of the group\u2019s DNA since Duckett revived it. He learned about the previous iteration of the club from its faculty advisor, John Banisaukas<\/a>, chief health careers advisor and director of pre-professional advising<\/a>. \u00a0His office guides students through exploring and preparing for all medical and health professions, with emphasis on developing the core competencies critical for any future healthcare professional.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEngagement with the Furman University Responders organization naturally intersects with the majority of these core competencies, especially the development of adaptability, compassion, leadership strengths, ethical responsibility and teamwork skills,\u201d Banisaukas said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

Kadence Alexander \u201926, a member of Furman University Responders, wears the organization\u2019s t-shirt on March 27. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Medical Aid Team<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not unusual to run into the Furman University Responders at football games, concerts and other on-campus events. Part of the organization that Duckett said he\u2019s proudest of is the Medical Aid Team: students in the group who put their skills to use in the field.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the group\u2019s earliest days, Duckett said he worked with Furman University Police Chief John Milby and other administrators to set up appropriate protocols so students could offer basic help to people on campus. Currently, the group sets up first aid stations at events, offering bandages, water and other basic resources.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA medical emergency can happen anywhere, at any time,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cAt a recent concert the team helped bandage someone\u2019s leg after they fell down.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students at the first aid station keep a keen eye on the crowd, but they also act as the group\u2019s outreach by taking people\u2019s blood pressure, talking with them about the organization and practicing their medical intervention skills at public events. Duckett said he hopes to expand this aspect of the club, with the goal of providing an on-campus volunteer EMS service to help quickly respond to medical emergencies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All of it serves to help the members gauge their interest in doing this kind of work professionally and build skills they can use anywhere when the need arises.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow well can you operate when you\u2019re actually in a real-life scenario?\u201d Alexander asked. \u201cTry out a CPR class if you haven\u2019t yet; you\u2019ll learn how to do compressions. When you\u2019re physically doing something like CPR, you learn pretty quickly if it\u2019s something you really want to do.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Furman University Responders is a student-run organization providing basic healthcare training and information about careers in medicine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":36922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pre-health","category-student-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37556"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37697,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37556\/revisions\/37697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}