RIT Ambulance - History

History

Shortly after RIT’s move from inner city Rochester to the existing campus in Henrietta an old barn that was left on the purchased property caught fire and began to burn. Alpha Phi Omega(APO) brother Neil Gorfain roused his fellow APOs and began to direct traffic as emergency service personnel began to respond. As the campus grew and matured Student Housing was plagued by frequent fire alarms, and the evacuating student were often in the way of Pinkerton Security officers, and each other. After the barn incident the Xi Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Omega proposed adopting crowd control as one of their mandated services to the institute.

After Student Housing consented to this plan, when a fire alarm sounded, campus security would notify the on-call APO brother via room phone, who would rouse his brothers and move the crowd to a safe distance until the building was cleared. This band of Fraternity brothers were designated the Emergency Unit. In 1970, when the majority of the EU members were graduating, APO made the decision to open the organization to non-fraternity members. That same year a student in hypoglycemic shock was found in the first floor of building 35 (Kate Gleason Hall.) The Pinkerton Security officers, due to a lack of first aid training, restrained multiple students, an ambulance volunteer, and U.S. Army Medics trying to help. The student was saved with some quick thinking and a sugar shaker until Henrietta Volunteer Ambulance was called to the scene. Following this incident the restrained medics and ambulance volunteers decided to join the EU, where a significant change could be made on campus. The unit changed its credo to that “No member of the RIT Community should lose their life due to ignorance or lack of training and experience on the part of others.” A volunteer leader of the new unit was selected, and Student Housing withdrew their sponsorship, recognizing a change in the organization’s objectives.

Fall quarter of 1970, the group reconvened, and under the Medical Direction of Dr. Hugh H. Butler the group was given first aid kits once their training was complete. Dr. Butler agreed to aid the group in triage, and case review. Due to the conflict in Vietnam, and the still fresh Kent state shooting, many departments on campus were opposed to such a “militaristic medical organization” on campus. Student support for the organization was strong, and one evening hundreds of students disrupted a boardroom meeting in an anti-war protest, causing the board of trustees to shut the institute down for a week. Keith Taylor, President of the Student Association, was vehemently opposed to the EU, fearing the possibility that the organization rendering aid would result in death or other situations in which the institute would be liable. Dr. Butler stood his ground for the agency, and Scott McLeod, VP of SA, gave a passionate speech that swayed many voting members. The Student Association advised adopting the name Student Safety Unit, following a passing vote of overwhelming margin. The RIT Student Safety Unit was created.

In the beginning students were outfitted with oversized blue and yellow windbreakers, yellow-rimmed flashlights, and first aid kits. SA did not provide any funding, so the members paid for their own uniforms, a necessary tradition that has been continued to this day. The unit was given an old panel van, Van #7, that was frequently out of service for repairs. When #7 was unavailable, a patrol car was used to retrieve students from hospitals following transport by HVA. As call volume climbed first from 10, to 15, to 100 in a year, agency members got into great shape, a natural consequence of having to sprint down the quarter mile walkway for a medical emergency on the academic side of campus. In 1971 the agency acquired a member certified by the American Red Cross to conduct first aid training, meaning members did not have to be certified through Henrietta Volunteer Ambulance. In the summer of 1972 SSU helped sandbag the Genesee River in preparation for Hurricane Agnes. That same year RIT purchased a Ford station wagon, made available to SSU, offering increased comfort, and reliability to students being transported. In 1973 the SSU received a new red van exclusively for SSU use. Fuel, repairs, and insurance were covered by administration. This vehicle did not have emergency lights, as most areas of campus were accessible very quickly. In the fall of 1974 SSU decided to make a commitment to provide 24/7 coverage to campus, with the number of EMTs in the organization approaching 50% in 1975. By the end of 1976 the number of calls SSU had provided assistance to was approaching 1,000.

In 1981, RIT's Student Safety team became a certified ambulance corps known as RIT Emergency Medical Unit. A year later, in 1982, the unit announced that it would no long be offering non emergent transportation to and from area hospitals. In 1983 it was renamed to RIT Ambulance.

For many years the RIT Ambulance Corps was only dispatched to emergencies by RIT Public Safety, but in 1993 became a Monroe County EMS subscriber. Subscription to the Monroe County system served to ensure that 9-1-1 calls on the RIT Campus would be appropriately routed to RIT Ambulance Corps rather than to the Henrietta Ambulance.