College Rescue Team Answers the Call
By Laurie Morrissey

For most college students, the words “extracurricular activity” do not conjure up visions of leaping out of bed at 2 a.m., throwing on some sweats and running into the snowy night with a bag of medical instruments. But for the 14 Saint Anselm students on the college’s Rescue Team, it comes with the territory. They never know when their pagers will go off, what part of campus the call will come from, or what they’ll find when they get there. It could be anything from a staff member with chest pains to a student suffering a finals-week anxiety attack. It could be a car accident, a seizure or a case of diabetic shock.

In fact, says captain Ashley Fielding ’06, it could be anything. The Rescue Team responded to 102 calls during the 2003–2004 academic year, running the gamut from minor emergencies to trauma. Members are certified EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians), and several work on the local (Goffstown) Fire Department Rescue Squad. The team is licensed by the New Hampshire Division of Emergency Medical Services as a “nontransporting unit.”

“I guess we all thrive on excitement. It’s definitely an adrenaline rush,” says Fielding. “We also like working in teams, and we have a lot of fun during the year.”

Besides providing emergency medical care to students, staff, faculty, monks, and visitors, team members fill a surprising number of health related roles. They stand by at fun runs and rugby games, offer alcohol awareness programs, train resident assistants and Spring Break Alternative leaders in first aid and alcohol poisoning issues, offer CPR and first aid courses to students, take blood pressure readings at Family Weekend, and perform a myriad of other duties that complement Campus Security and Health Services.

1 | 2