CNU Students Provide Invaluable Service as Isle of Wight EMTs
News Release - March 04, 2008
Media Contact:
Emily L. Lucier
Press Secretary and Media Manager
emily.lucier@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) - Numerous Christopher Newport University students are providing essential helpful skills to the Hampton Roads community, as volunteer Emergency Medical Technicians. Students volunteer 24 hours each month responding to varied medical and trauma situations throughout the county area. These highly trained emergency providers are certified by the Commonwealth of Virginia at various levels of expertise, ranging from basic to advanced life support.
“The Isle of Wight Volunteer Rescue Squad provides all training for our students and then precepts them as they practice and learn to apply life saving skills in actual field emergency situations,” stated Dr. Peter Carlson, Vice President of the Rescue Squad and a professor in CNU’s Department of Government. “It is exceptional to see our university volunteers respond to people in difficult situations and watch them save patients having cardiac crises, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding from motor vehicle accidents, and many other critical situations that they encounter - they make me very proud!” Pete Carlson is one of the squad’s Advanced Life Support techs and is responsible for coordinating this aspect of CNU’s volunteer involvement in local government.
CNU students have been deeply involved in Isle of Wight County’s emergency medical care for the last six years. The current 12 volunteers is the largest group yet and make-up 15 percent of the Rescue Squad’s membership. EMS Chief Brian Carroll believes they are “outstanding and dependable volunteers that offer their time and energy to our community; we are thankful that the university supports this service initiative!”
While students are not paid for this work, numerous students have received academic credit for their volunteer activities by successfully completing GOVT 291, a 3-hour course that is designed to engage students with important local community needs. This provides university support to local government, and connects students to real life needs. As CNU President Paul Trible expressed it: “We want our students to develop a life-long sense of responsibility for making the world a better place. Truly we change the world one person at a time and it begins with each of us, here and now.”
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Joseph W. Luter III College of Business and Leadership and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor.
Visit us at www.cnu.edu.