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The McGill Student Emergency Response Team (MSERT) is a volunteer organization whose members are dedicated to providing emergency pre-hospital care at a First Responder level to the students of McGill University as well as the residents of the city of Montreal.
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In addition to responding to emergencies, MSERT promotes safety to the students of McGill University and increases knowledge of dealing with emergency situations by offering courses in the following: Standard First Aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR-C), and Automated External Defibrillation (AED).
In the recruitment of its members and in the care of patients, MSERT remains impartial and neutral to race, sex, creed, religion, background, sexual orientation, financial status, political status, and disabilities.
History
Creation of McGill First Aid Service
The McGill First Aid Service (MFAS) was established by students in the spring of 1997, supported by the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU). Given the nature of several activities at McGill, a large number of people and crowds, the inherent free spirit of university students, the ambient weather and environment, and the fact that average emergency ambulance response time is at least 8-10 minutes, McGill is in need of a pre-hospital emergency care team, or first aid service, to supervise and care for students at specific events. It is this need that led to the birth of MFAS.
Since its inception, qualified student volunteers trained in standard to advanced first aid have run MFAS and provided the McGill and Montreal communities with the necessary care in emergency situations. Although ultimately accountable to the SSMU council and governing bodies, MFAS has always been led by a democratically elected executive body (herein referred to as The Executive), consisting solely of MFAS volunteers.
MFAS is also a full member of ACERT, the Association of Campus Emergency Response Teams of Canada. Formed in 1995 at the first National Conference for Campus Emergency Responders (NCCER), ACERT serves to represent all national campus response teams. NCCER is hosted by one of ACERT’s member teams each year and allows for all response teams to train and compete together, as well as providing a forum to discuss methods of training, communication, and leadership.
In the winter of 1999, MFAS was upgraded in status from a SSMU club to a SSMU service, indicating its ever-increasing importance in student life at McGill University. The following semester brought additional growth, with the number of volunteers increasing from approximately 10 to 50 members. For logistical reasons, two member categories were created: active members who volunteered as first aiders at events where MFAS was designated the first aid authority, and general members, who enjoyed the same rights and privileges of active members without acting as first aid volunteers at events. Instead, they assisted in an administrative capacity within the unit, serving on committees.
MFAS continued to grow in the 2001-2002 year. While MFAS had been a member of ACERT for a few years, NCCER 2001 marked the first time that MFAS attended the NCCER conference. In the fall of 2001, MFAS undertook the organization and hosting of the ACERT Mixer competition. This event provides participants with the opportunity to share experiences, improve their knowledge, and test their first aid skills in an atmosphere of friendly competition.
On campus, requests for special event coverage increased four-fold. In addition, mandatory monthly training sessions were initiated. New equipment including blood pressure cuffs, spinal boards, and v-vac suction units were introduced. The first edition of the Policy and Procedure Manual was written. As a result of these efforts and accomplishments, MFAS was honored at the 2002 SSMU awards ceremony, taking home SSMU Service of the Year and SSMU President of the Year, as well as being nominated for Volunteer of the year and Campus Life Fund Event of the Year.
2002-2003 saw MFAS train several of its members as Standard First Aid instructors. Along with this, a new courses program was piloted to offer courses at low cost to the McGill community and raise additional funds for MFAS. Oxygen administration was introduced as part of MFAS protocol to increase the efficacy of care given. The team launched a project with McGill Athletics to cover intramural hockey and intramural soccer during the ’02-‘03 year. Hockey was a great success and has remained since, but soccer saw a very low injury rate and was dropped as a regular event due to the lack of need of our services. This year saw the creation of a Training Coordinator to plan and oversee trainings, demonstrating a commitment by the team to excellence and improvement in skills.
2003-2004 marked a huge step in the number of events MFAS covered. In February of 2004, the Upper Residence project was launched on a pilot basis on weekends. This involved MFAS members being stationed at the Bishop Mountain Hall Residences on call overnight. This pilot program was successful and MFAS’ services were greatly appreciated in the Upper Residence community. Due to the success of the courses pilot the previous year, the positions of Courses and Business Coordinators were created for the sole purpose of organizing and advertising for courses.
2004-2005 marked a huge increase in volunteer hours, doubling from the previous year. Upper Residence became a regular shift and was covered on a nightly basis, not just weekends. This year was also the first time that MFAS organized a first responder course to increase the level of training of its members. This course taught a higher level of first aid and allowed members to have a superior standard of care, equal to that of firefighters. This course included advanced first aid skills and theory, including airway management, spinal injury management and oxygen administration. MFAS purchased an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), the first on campus, and trained 4 instructors in its operation. MFAS began to be approached as the AED authority on campus by both McGill Athletics and McGill Security. As a result, MFAS was able to advise them in purchasing their own AEDs. This year the courses program was able to expand to offer career-necessary first aid training to faculties such as nursing and physiology. MFAS was also designated the largest English authorized provider of first aid courses in Quebec at this point. MFAS members were able to place 3rd in the NCCER competition this year, demonstrating the excellence of care and patient management, even in comparison to other more established first response teams.
In 2005-2006, all members were trained to use the AED and it was put in Upper Residence so members could respond with it. Since early defibrillation is crucial in the survival of sudden cardiac arrest, this was a great step for MFAS. The (on average) 2 minute response time that MFAS has for emergencies in upper residences allows for an 80% survival rate for deadly heart arrhythmias, versus a roughly 20% survival rate after the 8 minute average response time of Montréal ambulance services. That February, MFAS hosted the NCCER competition, allowing other Canadian universities to experience Montréal. The first responder course was held again for a larger part of the team, and allowed even more members to become trained to that level. MFAS was given a seat on the ACERT board of directors this year, giving MFAS a voice at a national level. In terms of service, volunteer hours tripled this year in comparison with previous years. In addition, MFAS began to be involved in Frosh and Discover McGill training, helping to train the volunteers by supplying them with first aid information relevant to these activities.
2006-2007 held the largest number of volunteer hours to date, at nearly double the previous record. During this year, most of the Shift Leads were Canadian Red Cross First Responders, increasing the level of care that the team could provide on every shift. MFAS began to cover the engineering Blues Pub on a weekly basis as well. Gerts was removed as a shift due to generally low bar attendance, making first aid coverage unnecessary. To maintain a high level of care, member evaluations were instated to be carried out as needed on an impartial basis. Moreover, it was decided by the members of MFAS that should the opportunity to cover the entire campus on call arise, such as at many other Canadian universities, the team would dedicate itself to making this a reality.
In the 2007-2008 year, MFAS upgraded its uniforms to not only include the MFAS shirt, but now also uniform pants and personalized ID badges. In addition, the Policies and Procedures Manual was rewritten for the first time since 2003. MFAS also took on a new project that makes MFAS the authority on AEDs on the McGill campus. It entails MFAS regularly checking the condition of each AED on campus on a regular basis to ensure that the AEDs are always in working condition, should they be needed in an emergency. In addition, MFAS increased its proportion of trained Red Cross First Responders to over 80% of the members certified. In order to increase the level of care as a provider, MFAS made it mandatory that each Shift Lead hold this level of certification or the equivalent. To keep the team’s level of training up, MFAS created an entire committee of Training Coordinators, the Training Committee, who are devoted to ensuring that everyone’s skills are kept fresh and up-to-date.
Expanding coverage to student residences and drafting the 24/7 on-call proposal
Considerable steps towards drafting a campus wide, 24/7 on-call coverage proposal began in 2008-2009. The completed proposal, submitted to the McGill administration in the spring of 2009 outlined a preliminary scheme of the coverage that MFAS would provide between the hours of 9h00 to 15h00 to the McGill Downtown Campus. In addition to drafting an on-call proposal, MFAS saw its members 100% First Responder certified. Seven members were trained as Red Cross Standard First Aid Instructors to keep up with the ever increasing demand of our first aid courses. MFAS also took steps to revise our official constitution, replacing the position of VP External with the new position of VP Training. Following best practice of other CERT teams, the responsibilities of the VP Training would include heading the Training Committee and proposing a year-long general training structure in conjunction with the MFAS executive. In April, MFAS was recognized as the SSMU Service of the Year.
Several changes to the preliminary on-call proposal were made during the 2009-2010 year following feedback from the McGill administration. A majority vote was received at a general meeting in favour of proceeding with the on-call protocol pending the approval of the administration. Meanwhile, MFAS hosted the three-day MIXER conference in November, boasting an attendance of nearly 150 delegates from campus emergency response teams across Canada. MFAS also participated in a school shooting simulation during the Thanksgiving weekend in conjunction with McGill Emergency Measures, Urgences Santé and the Montreal Police Department, playing the role of victims and providing casualty simulation. MFAS then partnered with Missions de Solidarité Responsable International (MSR), who together sent a team of MFAS members to Haiti in June 2010. MFAS successfully elected its first ever VP Training in March 2010, and took home the SSMU Service of the Year award for the second year in a row.
Having heard little about the status of the on-call proposal, the MFAS executive decided in the summer of 2010 to pursue the expansion of our service in residences to include the area of Lower Residences (Royal Victoria College, Carrefour Sherbrooke, University Hall, Presbyterian College, and New Residence). We have so far met with resistance from the McGill administration, with concerns over the public implications of our official name. In the meantime, MFAS has worked hard to increase its exposure on campus through its involvement with Orientation Week, Frosh, Safety Week and SSMU-endorsed events. MFAS is quite possibly at its largest with 59 active members after our September 2010 recruitment. Our volunteers have also recently become certified by the Heart and Stroke Foundation as epinephrine providers, meaning that MFAS can carry and administer its own EpiPens® while on shift. Despite the current obstacles, MFAS as a whole has so far proven to be exceptionally promising for the upcoming 2010-2011 year.
Renaming McGill Student Emergency Response Team
After months of discussions with the McGill administration, residence director MichaelPorrit, and McGill Security Services, the members of MFAS formally voted in favour of changing the name of the service to the McGill Student Emergency Response Team (MSERT) in exchange for permission to expand its coverage zone. MSERT now responds to calls in Gardner, Molson, McConnell, Douglas, Greenbriar, Presbyterian College, University Hall, Royal Victoria College, and Carrefour Sherbrooke. After a series of time trials over the summer, it was decided that New Residence Hall coverage could not be included in lower residence coverage. In addition to an increased coverage zone, MSERT was available in residence from 6:00pm to 6:00am, due to the busy schedule of security agents in the early evening. MSERT will continue to work toward becoming a more integrated security service, as new protocols are perfected and finalized.
In 2012, MSERT expanded its coverage in Lower Residences to include both New Residence Hall and La Citadelle. In order to make coverage of New Residence Hall feasible, MSERT relocated its Lower Residence base from RVC to La Citadelle. MSERT also relocated its office in the SSMU building from the 4th floor to the basement in room B23. MSERT continued to be further integrated with McGill Security Services and dispatched through the 398-3000 number. In 2012, MSERT decided to run a referendum question in order to increase its funding from $0.25 per student to $0.75 per student. In November, the referendum question passed successfully and MSERT’s annual Student Fees Revenue increased from approximately $10,000.00 to approximately $30,000.00. In February 2013, MSERT was again host to the NCCER conference and its team of responders placed 11th among 19 campus response teams.
With MSERT’s courses division recognized as the largest English provider of Canadian Red Cross Standard First Aid courses in Quebec, and with this division demanding significant organization and delegation of work, it was decided by the Executive Committee that there was need for the Executive position of Vice-President of Courses. This position was officially voted in to be a sixth member of the Executive Committee, and the Elections held for the 2013-2014 academic year saw the introduction of MSERT’s first VP Courses.
With MSERT better establishing itself as the first aid authority and provider for the McGill community, the MSERT Executive decided to revisit the 24/7 campus-wide coverage proposal in the summer of 2013.
In 2013/2014, MSERT’s Training Partner contract with the Red Cross was dropped by SSMU, as they were no longer willing to provide the liability insurance.
In 2014/2015 MSERT started being on-call during out office hours, from 11am-6pm, in order to advance the goal of 24-hour coverage. No courses were able to be held during the year as MSERT was no longer a Training Partner of the Red Cross. In addition, by the end of the year, a contract was signed with Kwartha Emergency Safety Training Inc. in order to provide SFA courses to the public again. Profits were split 60/40 for KEST/MSERT. The team voted to drop the sixth Executive Member, as the Director of Courses position was deemed unnecessary, and a new position called “Director of Finance and Courses” was created.
In 2015/2016, the Kest agreement was changed to a 55/45 split for Kest/MSERT. The veteran members of MSERT received Mental Health First Aid Training from McGill’s “Counselling and Mental Health Services”. The response was mixed/negative, with many members asserting that the training did not change their response, so the initiative was dropped, and to be revisited in future years. The team voted to separate “Director of Finance and Courses” into the Director of Courses and the Director of Finance and PR.
In 2016/2017, MSERT added several items to the pack, including Wet Wipes, Pulse Oximeters, and Surgical Masks. The team voted to add coordinator positions for the Director of Finance and PR. The two positions added were “Conferences Coordinator” and “Public Relations Coordinator”. MSERT attended the MIXER conference in November 2016 and won both 1st and 2nd place at the competition. In summer 2017, it was decided by SSMU and MSERT that we would not renew our contract with KEST, in order to maximize profits earned from our courses.
In 2017/2018, SSMU required MSERT to end their agreement with Kwartha Emergency Safety Training Inc because SSMU felt as if MSERT was not getting enough of the revenue for organizing and offering first aid courses. SSMU allowed MSERT to sign a Training Partner contract with the Red Cross (like they had every year prior to 2013/2014). MSERT then went on to hold 7 first aid courses and generate ~$15,000 worth of revenue, more than twice as much as the year before. MSERT was also asked to switch their Lower Residence room within RVC and went from being in the room across from the west lounge and next to the kitchen to the room under the west wing staircase. MSERT also implemented two new pieces of equipment: thermometers and fanny packs. “Teaching Evals” were also implemented as the required October Eval for the first time, whereby responders got feedback on the spot after their evals without any sort of pass/weak pass/conditional pass result. To help improve MSERT’s national presence within ACERT, MSERT attended both MIXER and NCCER for the first time in many years. Due to the SSMU building closure for construction, MSERT also was forced to move its office and storage closet from the SSMU 4th floor to a smaller office and no storage space into the SSMU rented building 3471 Peel.
Recent history and changes in the MSERT constitution
Structurally, there were also a few changes made to the MSERT constitution. The team voted to introduce the “Elections Committee”: a body made up of members of the team that were privy to and were required to discuss confidential matters about the electoral candidates and ultimately decide whether or not a candidate could run for the MSERT Executive Committee. The team also passed a motion to create a new Operations coordinator position, whose job it was to oversee and manage the Office and Hockey closet. Finally, the team voted on restructuring two Executive positions and three coordinator positions. The Executive positions “Director of Courses and Conferences” and “Director of Finances and PR” became the “Director of Courses and PR” and “Director of Finances and Conferences”. The positions Courses Coordinator, Fundraising/PR Coordinator, and Sponsorships/Conferences Coordinator became the Courses/PR Coordinator and the Fundraising/Conferences Coordinator.
In 2018/2019, a lot of change was initiated for MSERT. MSERT hosted NCCER for the first time since 2012, and since MIXER was discontinued by ACERT, it was the only conference supported by ACERT throughout the entire academic year. To partially help offset the financial burden of hosting a conference, MSERT increased their number of first aid courses to 12 in total, generating approximately $25,000 in revenue. MSERT also expanded their coverage, by agreeing to cover all intramural sports at the new Rutherford Field. This added 67 shifts to the schedule, took more than 200 hours resulted in a significant increase in calls.
To help improve PR, MSERT also created and launched a brand new website, invested a significant amount of money and time into designing and printing posters, business cards, and stickers. They also committed to putting PR material in every one of the Frosh and Residence bags (more than 10,000 printed business cards) for the first time in recent memory.
Due to the SSMU building closure being extended for an indefinite amount of time and due to the extreme lack of space in the 3471 Peel building, MSERT worked to improve external relations with McGill Athletics and McGill Residences to secure storage rooms in the McGill Gymnasium and in Molson Hall, which were used for courses and training equipment. MSERT also improved relations with the other SSMU safety services, as preliminary steps were taken towards forming a joint-safety services PR committee and service request form. Additionally, MSERT had to move Stage 2 of recruitment to the education building, Full Team Trainings to Molson Hall or the McGill Gym, and Half Team Trainings to McMed 2nd floor or the Nursing Building 20th floor due to the SSMU building closure. MSERT also implemented an equipment-intensive training focused on wound care and musculoskeletal injuries. And to help improve the recruitment process, MSERT created a thorough recruitment application guide to clarify many of the questions held by MSERT applicants and added an “MMI station” to Stage 2 of the recruitment process. In an effort to try and improve the transition process of rookies onto the team, MSERT organized an Exec-Rookie meeting a few days before FR began and also organized one-on-one check-in meetings in February, between members of the Training Committee and each rookie.
To increase the transparency and accessibility of MSERT Leadership Team operations, as well as to hold the MSERT Leadership Team accountable for the work they perform, MSERT implemented mandatory self-reported Hours Worked sheets for all of the Executives and Coordinators for the first time. MSERT also published a “Portfolio Update” (a semesterly progress report summarizing the work that was done by each executive and coordinator) for all of their active members to see.
Structurally, there were also a few changes made to the MSERT constitution and internal operating procedures. First, the elections format was altered. The elections committee was abolished and only the graduating executive members (called Elections Officers) were left to organize elections and inform the team of any candidates deemed unsuitable for an Executive role. 3-page long candidate platforms were published to the team 10 days before election day. Speeches were eliminated and replaced by a Full-Team Q&A and a Roundtable Q&A. MSERT also took steps to improve its statistical collection and analysis processes, which led to the creation of a new coordinator position: The Program Assessment Coordinator. Additionally, the position of “Engagement Coordinator” was added for a few months, to have someone in charge of making an MSERT Yearbook and to coordinate intramurals. It was then decided to take two Events Coordinators for the following year rather than continuing the Engagement Coordinator position. One other Coordinator position was also expanded, with the Courses/PR Coordinator position getting two coordinators due to an increase in demand for PR.
Finally, because approximately 45% of the MSERT operating budget for the 2018-19 year was generated from Courses, MSERT (with the support of SSMU) ran a motion to have MSERT’s portion of the Safety Services Network fee increased from $0.75 to $1.50 without increasing the total value of the fee. Instead, $0.75 was transferred from SACCOMS, who was on track to run a $90,000 surplus for the 2018-19 year to MSERT. This will effectively double the operating budget for MSERT in the 2019-20 year, so that they can move forward with ideas such as purchasing all new uniforms, acquiring more advanced training, subsidising the entire cost of the First Responder course, and much more.
As a result of all the improvements and success that was experienced by MSERT in the 2018/19 year, MSERT was recognized by SSMU with the SSMU Service of the Year Award and the SSMU Executive Committee of the Year award, for the first time since the early 2010s.