ETSU Emergency Medicine/Emergency Response Organization, shortened as EM/ERGE, hosted a CPR class for students on Feb. 18.
When EM/ERGE first began, “they intended for this to be a group for students who were EMTs or paramedics to come together and do volunteer work,” said President Axel DeRegis. “It recently became more of an educational club.”
The new board of EM/ERGE, consisting of DeRegis, Vice President Matthew Rauhuff, and Secretary Gabrielle Naillon, decided to become instructors for CPR, which became a central mission of the club.
In the Feb. 18 class, members of EM/ERGE took turns teaching essential information and gave students an opportunity to take extensive notes. This included identifying a medical emergency, checking responsive and unresponsive people in crisis, and other critical details. President Axel DeRegis closed training with the specifics of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AEDs (automated external defibrillator).
At the conclusion of the course, they provided participants with an opportunity to practice their CPR learnings on both adult and infant manikins.
EM/ERGE will host their next class in room 360 of the Culp Center on Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 4-9 p.m. EM/ERGE hosts CPR classes twice a month, and each class is $50 per person.
“We wanted a way to accomplish our mission statement and teach medicine, and we also needed a way to raise money for the club,” said DeRegis. “The AEDs and manikins are expensive, so the CPR classes kind of pay for themselves.”
The purpose of EM/ERGE is to connect students to opportunities in emergency response and EMS. Members of EM/ERGE do not have to be medically-oriented, as the additional purpose of this organization is to help the whole of East Tennessee State University in teaching emergency practices and response.
For more information on upcoming meetings, events, and workshops with EM/ERGE, contact naillong@etsu.edu or follow their Instagram @etsuemerge.
