UNC alumni Jimmy Petrongelli Jr. and Erica Scherer founded Campus EMS in 2017.
Four years later, on Oct. 14, the organization celebrated its inaugural shift as a first-responder agency to main campus medical emergencies.
Beyond the recently started 911 response, Campus EMS also provides different COVID-19 relief and campus outreach services, according to its website.
The co-directors of Campus EMS, senior Ishan Khosla and junior Sarah Torzone, worked to transition the organization to a first-responder agency after they joined during the 2019-20 school year.
Torzone said the founders and previous co-directors formed connections with Campus Health and Campus EMS Medical Director Dr. Joseph Grover, which laid the groundwork for what the organization is doing now.
"It's an incredible amount of work that goes into building a health care agency, because this is not a club," Torzone said. "We’re actually certified medical professionals providing health care to students, so there’s a lot of liability and budgets, and there’s so much that goes into it."
Torzone said UNC's Campus EMS was modeled after programs at other universities, such as Wake Forest University and Western Carolina University. Torzone said some EMS programs have a full ambulance and transport unit, while others use a Quick Response Vehicle, bike or golf cart.
UNC's Campus EMS uses a golf cart as its response vehicle, Torzone said, equipped with the same supplies as an ambulance.
“We wanted to walk before we ran, so we are going to be the first response in a golf cart,” Torzone said.
