Emergency Response

PHASE 0: Prior to the call

Prior to the call, the responding members of Tech EMS as well as the officers of Public Safety are carrying radios while going about their business on and around campus. There are approximately 8 responders, not including Public Safety officers, on call at any given time.

PHASE 1: The call is made

The caller calls 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency. A dispatch station to the west of Tech, in Negaunee, MI, receives the call. Michigan Tech Public Safety officers are then immediately paged to the location of the caller and arrive soon thereafter in their emergency response vehicles. If the emergency is medical in nature, the dispatcher will also page Tech EMS to the location of the call. Given that our campus is so small, most responders will arrive on foot within 5 minutes (on average) of the call being made. Most often, officers of Public Safety will be the first to arrive on scene; therefore, one of our blue equipment bags is located in each of their emergency response vehicles. This way, we can immediately start providing care as soon as we arrive on scene. The EMS Lieutenant on call at the time will show up to the scene in the EMS response vehicle, which contains the rest of the equipment we transport to every call. Once on scene, officers of Public Safety and Tech EMS will work together to provide the necessary care.

Any time Tech EMS is paged to a location, Mercy EMS is paged as well. Each ambulance is staffed with 2 people, and at least one of them is a paramedic. Tech EMS is not a transporting agency, so Mercy EMS will transport the patient to the necessary hospital, if need be. If the patient is well enough and doesn’t want to take the ambulance to the hospital, officers of Public Safety may be able to transport the patient to the hospital instead.

PHASE 2: After the call

After Mercy EMS has taken over care of the patient or the patient has been cleared to walk away, Tech EMS will clean up the scene and their equipment, restock bags, and then wait for the next call.