Georgetown’s volunteer EMTs will be operational throughout the month despite a rough start to the new year.
Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS), amid fears the medical team might be forced into an alternative operational status, put its Unit 7 ambulance back into service Wednesday afternoon after the vehicle was out of commission for general mechanical repairs.
The unit’s return came as a relief to GERMS, as the EMTs had planned to send Unit 6 to the Department of Health for inspection and recertification today.
GERMS, long aware that its vehicles are aging and in need of replacement, has seen its hopes for acquiring a new vehicle slowed by difficulties in receiving funding from the University, GERMS President Jason Brill (CAS ‘06) said. GERMS executives met yesterday afternoon to discuss the issue but returned with no definite plan for making the $90,000 purchase.
GERMS currently operates two ambulances, purchased in 1997 and 2000. Both vehicles undergo frequent maintenance throughout the year due to the wear and tear incurred during their demanding schedules.
But as both have aged, more frequent maintenance has been needed, sometimes resulting in GERMS placing a vehicle out of commission for larger repairs, GERMS Director of Public Relations Becca Danis (SFS ‘06) said.
Though GERMS can remain in service with a full duty crew and only one ambulance, this has raised concerns that repairs could soon place both ambulances out of commission simultaneously, Danis said. In such a situation, GERMS would maintain its medical services by reverting to First Responder Status, calling on D.C. Fire ambulances as needed.
“Going out of service is a disservice to the community,” GERMS Vice President Emily Ware (NHS ‘06) said.
Research on a new ambulance began several months ago, Danis said.
But the small University budget and the long list of approvals needed from numerous University officials have delayed the process.
“I don’t want services diminished because of aging ambulances,” Brill said.
The group has stayed in service continually since March 2005, remaining fully operational throughout the summer even though the group usually takes a week-long break in mid-August so student members can enjoy a brief vacation.
Medical services hopes to purchase the new ambulance in late September, Brill said. With the new unit operational, GERMS can retire Unit 6, the older of the two GERMS ambulances.
For the next month, GERMS will remain fully in service despite its transportation woes.
“We will continue to work hard to provide the level of reliability and professionalism that Georgetown students have come to expect,” Danis said.
