Friday, November 21, 2008

Party Paramedics

Just got my JEMS email, and in there was this fascinating article about "party medics" and the concept of having EMS staff on hand at college parties.

Party Paramedics

One has to wonder, though, what kind of message it sends.

Does it simply accept that "college kids will be college kids" and offer a measure of protection for that mentality or does it show a level of acceptance for potentially illegal behavior?

Working part time for a small university's Public Safety department, I've seen the best and the worst of college students, and their choices. We very recently created our own EMS club, and are in the tentative stages of trying to figure out what roles they can play on our campus, without major liability on the university's part.

Does this university's insurance policy cover the "party medics"? Are they affiliated with the school itself? How are they funded?

And does anyone else see this as a lawsuit waiting to happen?

5 comments:

brendan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
brendan said...

If you read the article carefully, it says 200 people are volunteering to work these parties, but only 60 of them are actually EMTs. There's your liability right there.

"Party Paramedics"? I think not.

Medic(three) said...

Hmmm.... That seems a little "iffy" to me... I can tell you it isn't something i would ever do.

Without Medical direction it would be BLS(and God I hope there isn't an MD who would sign on to something this stupid.)

I think that it could easily lead to "well the medic said it was fine" as a defense for about 23423432 stupid things done while drinking.

Ambulance Mommy said...

Personally, I thought it was one of the scariest ideas I had ever heard, but my sister insisted it was a good idea....that her school allowed drinking on campus if you were over 21 to decrease the risk of DUI deaths, and this is a similar plan.

Our campus is wet if you are over 21 too, but it doesn't seem help our Driving Under the Influence stats.

This idea is a huge liability...I can only assume that it somehow slipped through the school's administration.

.. said...

*smacks forehead*

But...

I...

That...



Really?

No good. As in - Houston, we have a problem.