College Acquires Boat, EMT Van

The start of the academic year has brought two new and unexpected additions available for students — an ambulance and a boat — allowing pre-med, geology and other interested students to gain hands-on learning experience.

The acquistion of the ambulance, a deal nearly two years in the making, was arranged between the College and the Middlebury Volunteer Ambulance Association, according to Ed Sullivan, environmental health and safety coordinator. A donation from local medical services to the College, the ambulance was given as a way to provide more medical assistance to the town of Middlebury.

Currently, Middlebury runs two ambulances at night, one of which travels back and forth to Burlington. Therefore, if a major incident were to occur in Middlebury, there might be only one on-call ambulance in the area.

The new addition gives EMT-certified students the opportunity to run the ambulance and respond to calls in the area when local services do not have enough staff to handle the situation. Student EMTs will also respond to the College’s night calls. This new program will provide a unique opportunity to the 45 student EMTs, which consist of about 60 percent on the pre-med track.

“We are providing a program that will give our students clinical experience before medical school and a program that gives them the opportunity to ensure that this is what they want to do with their lives,” said Sullivan.

Before, student EMTs could respond to student calls at night, but with the acquisition of the local ambulance comes unfounded territory as well as responsibility. Students who have been trained extensively could be dealing with situations ranging from minor cuts to major automobile accidents, under the supervision of other paramedics.

“We are going to the next step, and it’s a huge step, really, because it’s run by the students for the students,” added Sullivan.

Rachel Percelay ’14, a junior on the pre-med track and a member of the Student Emergency Response Team, is excited about having access to hands-on experience that most students do not get until medical school.

“Students get to have actual experience in an ambulance,” said Percelay. “We will be dealing with a lot of drunk kids, which is inevitable, but we will also get a lot of exposure when dealing with doctors and it is great for medical school applications. The most important part of it all is the opportunity for students to ensure this is what they want to do with their lives. And this is valuable knowledge to have, especially before paying for medical school.”

In addition to the new ambulance, the College recently finished building a research vessel, the R/V David Folger, after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation. The construction of the state-of-the art boat began in the fall of 2010 and ended May 2012. Professor of Geology Pat Manley’s marine biology students had the opportunity to board the boat last week.

The College is working to get certification from the Coast Guard in order for larger classes to go out in the future. For now, the group size allowed on the boat is limited to seven students.  Prior to the construction of the R/V David Folger, Middlebury had the R/V Baldwin, an older research vessel on Lake Champlain.  It was thirty years old and could no longer be renovated. Manley believes that the new boat provides a much-needed upgrade that will allow for tremendous research opportunities in many disciplines.

“This is a state of the art research vessel,” said Manley. “It is the premier ocean vessel on Lake Champlain ... It is a lake studies research vessel and is meant to be for all students, and can be expanded to much more than just a science research vessel,” added Manley.

Manley hopes that classes from all different areas of study will utilize the boat. She would like to take her first-year seminar class out in the near future and notes that dance and music classes have already expressed interest in using the boat.  The boat will be officially dedicated on Oct. 20, homecoming weekend, at Basin Harbor Club.