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Rice University’s emergency medical services team is primarily composed of student volunteers, who are trained as EMTs.
Rice University
A student in crisis at Rice University can phone a friend, or at least a peer who works on the Rice Emergency Medical Services (REMS) team.
Trained student volunteers at Rice respond to emergency calls at all hours, providing essential medical and mental health care to any person on campus who could need support, building into the institution’s culture of care.
The organization also helps service-minded students forge their path in the medical field, giving them hands-on learning, important life skills and the confidence to tackle challenges head-on.
What it is: REMS is a volunteer-based organization, staffed by around 70 students each year who provide 24-7 coverage to the campus community. The group first started operations in 1996 and has offered support since.
REMS was one of the reasons seniors Bryant Polanco and Liz Pan chose to attend Rice, with both students interested in working in healthcare after graduation.
“I was thinking it would be a really good opportunity to give back to your campus community in a really unique way,” says Pan, who serves REMS as an InCharge (AEMT), senior lieutenant and community outreach lieutenant. “You get to interact with students, visitors, staff, faculty, from all different backgrounds and to serve them in a really like tangible way … and help them in a vulnerable moment in need.”
To be qualified, students must hold an EMT certification—which they can complete outside the university or in a for-credit course, EMSP 281 or EMSP 282—and then complete an application. There’s no major requirement, because the most important thing is being patient-centered, says Lisa Basgall, EMS director at RICE.
“I took the class and completely fell in love with it,” says Nicole Interiano, REMS Duty Crew member. “I thought it was incredible, being able help people in those initial moments of need, and you really do amazing work. It’s really gratifying.”
Once on the Duty Crew, students commit to volunteering for at least two 12-hour shifts a month, but most sign up for more. While on duty, students attend their classes and other activities as usual, but must respond to any calls they receive.
The team manages several vehicles, golf carts, the university’s 65 public-access defibrillators and a closet stocked with medical supplies, in addition to each being assigned a uniform and radio that they wear while on shift. REMS is funded by student health fees and is free for anyone on campus who needs care.
Many of the calls students receive are for minor injuries but students are trained to respond to all kinds of scenarios, including cardiac arrest, choking and heat emergencies.
Peer support: The difference between a member of the student-led organization and a traditional EMS respondent is the trust built among the community.
“There’s something called culture of care at Rice, and I think REMS really plays a big part in that. Students take care of and help other students,” Interiano says.
In addition to providing on-call support, the team provides education throughout the academic year.
Each fall, REMS gives a presentation to incoming first-year students, encouraging them to call them in case of emergency. They also teach CPR classes and stop-the-bleed training, as well as education for Girl Scouts who want to earn their first aid badge. During the COVID-19 pandemic, student volunteers led vaccine clinics, as well.
“A few years ago, our marching band … [members] were having a lot of heat emergencies at band practices and performances [because they wore black uniforms in the Texas sun], and we’re like, ‘Maybe you should learn about heat management and have different uniforms,’” Basgall says. In response, REMS offered a class on heat management strategies and how to prevent heat emergencies.
REMS volunteers also offer their services during special events, such as athletics, public ceremonies or social gatherings, Pan says.
“Whatever the thing is, we want to be able to pitch in and try and promote health and safety on our campus,” Basgall says.
Survey Says
Peer support is a key way to provide support to college students who are facing mental health crisis.
When asked where they turn to help cope with mental health, most students say they look for support from their friends and family, according to a November 2023 study from Wiley.
Four in 10 students say they look to their friends for help but 8 in 10 say they turn to their friends for information on mental health, according to a 2023 survey by Ipsos, commissioned by the College Student Mental Health Wellness Advocacy Coalition and the Hi, How Are you Project, with support from The Jed Foundation.
Learning on the job: Students must engage with people from different backgrounds with professionalism, good communication, flexibility, empathy and active listening, among other skills.
“You’re learning how to make decisions in the best interest of the patient, making decisions that are evidence-based and using all your clinical skills, but also being in that context of each patient’s individual circumstances and history,” Pan says.
In addition to putting their clinical skills to work, students gain valuable life experiences. Time management is a common challenge among REMS members because they are juggling being on call with their academic and social obligations, but that can create burnout.
“I realized like, for at least a few months, I was just working constantly and that wasn’t good for me. So I eventually realized I need to set time for myself to just be able to hang out or have fun with my friends,” Polanco says.
The experience also builds students’ confidence. “It helped me to deal with stress and in making difficult decisions in the moment,” Polanco says, noting that these skills were previously outside his comfort zone.
Throughout their time in the organization, students can work their way up to leadership positions, like Polanco and Pan who hold the highest title of InCharge. The title comes with additional training and responsibilities which help build their professional skills in providing education and performing administrative functions, as well as leading a team.
Building for the future: While many former REMS volunteers take their clinical skills with them into their postgraduate career, the human skills development is valuable for all participants, Basgall says.
“I always say, no matter what you want to do with this [experience], things like learning how to work with a team, staying calm in an emergency, being able to make a plan and follow up on it, being able to talk to people that you wouldn’t necessarily have … all these skills are great skills, no matter what career people would take them on.” Basgall says.
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