Feature: Colby Emergency Response
Molly Gardner `22 begins her day like any other Colby student — some last-minute studying, scrolling through emails and social media, and a minor existential crisis.
However, unlike many students, Gardner often gets ready for not just class but also for her Colby Emergency Response (CER) shift. Along with her school bag, she grabs her aid bag and puts on her embroidered CER jacket.
With shifts lasting for twenty-four hours at a time, Gardner remains on-call during lectures, with friends at the library, and while eating in the dining hall. At any moment, her radio could alert her to a medical emergency that requires an urgent response.
In an interview with The Colby Echo, Gardner spoke about her experience in CER and how it has shaped her experience at the College.
“When you start your shift, you don’t know what’s going to happen so it motivates me to be ready for anything and makes me look forward to being on call,” she said.
According to the organization’s website, “CER was founded to simply provide the Colby College campus with exceptional and reliable emergency medical coverage 24/7 during the school term.”
CER is a student volunteer, first-responder organization that provides emergency and transfer care to patients in a medical emergency, servicing Delta Ambulance, Waterville Fire-Rescue, or other local medical facilities. It responds to all medical emergencies, including injuries, allergic reactions, diabetic emergencies, fainting, difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, alcohol and drug-related illness, and mental health emergencies.
The organization’s predominately student composition enables members to gain first-hand experience in the emergency medical field. CER members abide by the latest Maine and national emergency medical service (EMS) protocols. They adapt their care responses based on what is needed most at the College.
Gardner joined CER after taking a two-credit Emergency Medical Technician Training JanPlan course facilitated by experienced CER members during her first year.
“I originally took the course because my COOT leader had suggested it as something fun to do in January, and I wasn’t disappointed,” Gardner said.
The course prepares students to provide prehospital assessment and care for patients. Its coursework includes simulated clinical experience using programmed patient scenarios that follow National Highway Transportation Administration Emergency Medical Technician Education Standards and the Maine EMS EMT Curriculum.
After completing the course, Gardner was eligible to apply for the CER team, which she has been on ever since.
Reflecting on her time in the organization, she recounted that as a trainee, she received guidance and support from other CER members. As a result, she gained confidence and improved as an EMT.
“This training period not only taught me how to do things on the calls, the lower volume of calls on campus made it manageable for me to handle, but as I improved in my ability to administer initial care, I was always hoping to get more experience and be continually challenged,” she said.
Gardner emphasized how the training process helped solidify how to ask the most pertinent and most helpful questions to those needing immediate care.
“Having students, members of our community, as my patients was helpful because it was people you’d see every day,” she said.
Newly eligible for taking the National EMT and State of Maine licensure examination following the JanPlan course and seeking more challenging cases, Gardner set her sights on joining the Delta Ambulance service, which she did successfully in Dec. 2020.
Delta Ambulance was formed in 1972 by three Waterville hospitals and continues to serve the area today, performing advanced life support, neonatal transfers, and licensed aeromedical transfers. In the years since its founding, Delta has cared for almost 350,000 people.
Working with Delta allowed Gardner to get experience as a first-responder handling calls in the greater Waterville area, which she cited as invaluable in cementing her interest in emergency care.
“It has really become something I would like to keep doing beyond the first aid context. I’d like to be able to continue care and see myself involved in the interventions patients receive based on what I see clinically in the field,” she said.
Like many CER members, Gardner aspires to apply her experience beyond graduation in the context of medicine. However, she mentioned how the diversity of interests and personalities in CER have allowed her to build a network early as a first-year.
“Shifts during CER were a time to bond, learn from each other, and really grow personally. [During my first year] this was the first time I was able to bond with upperclassmen,” she said.
Gardner reflected on how her time in CER has shaped her Colby experience.
“The team really has an atmosphere of ‘we’re all in this together.’ We are all made to look out for each other, that’s been especially helpful,” she said.
Gardner also reflected on how she has balanced her responsibilities as a member of CER with everything else she’s been involved in on-campus.
“Working at Delta has flexibility because you’re able to pick up a shift; I have always balanced it with whether I’m able to work,” she said.
Although she remains uncertain about her exact path in the medical field, she said that her time as a member of CER has affirmed her love for it.
~ Aaron Mills `24
