Todd Rabkin Golden '06 (pictured below demonstrating CPR) is definitely someone you want to have around in an emergency. He holds certifications from the American Heart Association for basic life support and Heartsaver First Aid instruction, he's a National Ski Patrol outdoor emergency care technician, an American Red Cross lifeguard, a certified Professional Association of Dive Instructors rescue diver, and a nationally registered emergency medical technician. He's passionate about saving lives. In fact, the only thing he and his colleagues on Dartmouth's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team are more passionate about is empowering others to do so.
|
|
To that end, Golden and EMS team members teach a class every week during the term, open to anyone in the Dartmouth community. "You never know when you're going to need CPR skills," he says.
"Spend one day learning these skills and you may just save someone's life," he and fellow team teachers Lily Lei '06 and Chris Pitassy '06 enthusiastically note.
Every team member is a certified emergency medical technician, and many hold more advanced certifications. While the team itself is a club sport within the athletics department, the rules of this particular game are somewhat different than most. For EMS team members, winning means helping someone stay alive long enough to get to a hospital.
"The key thing is the chain of survival," Golden explains to his class. "The links of that chain are early access, early CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation], early AED [automated external defibrillation], and advanced life support."
Golden and his teammates train together on a weekly basis, attend lectures at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and provide coverage for campus events. The team itself is a licensed New Hampshire EMS unit.
"I've taught about thirty-five classes for about four hundred students and ten safety and security officers since fall 2003," says Golden. "Last year, with the help of Dartmouth Ski Patrol, I taught and certified over one hundred Dartmouth students in one afternoon."
By LAUREL STAVIS
Questions or comments about this article? We welcome your feedback.
