UNC Charlotte students push to launch campus EMT program

CHARLOTTE — Local college students could soon be responding to medical emergencies on their own campus.

It is part of a student-led push at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Channel 9’s Gina Esposito delved into how the program could benefit not just the school but the entire county.

Nick Maynard and Davida Ogbar are two students at UNC Charlotte who met while working as EMTs at a local fire department.

Now, they hope to bring that service to the more than 31,000 students on their campus.

“We found that our university alone contributes to over 600 calls for 911 medical service a year, which is a relatively big number,” said Maynard.

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Maynard and Ogbar are just a few of the students who are pushing the university to create Niner 911, a program that would allow students who are certified EMTs to respond to medical calls on campus.

“They can eventually go to calls and say, ‘Hey, we don’t need fire, just send MEDIC,’” Maynard explained.

Last week, Channel 9 reported that Mecklenburg EMS saw a 7% increase in calls so far this year, leaving some local towns concerned about response times.

On Tuesday, Maynard and Ogbar said they plan to present their data to university leaders on how their program could help get to people faster.

“There was a professor who had seen his peer on the ground for over 30 minutes without help from a medical professional; that happened on campus,” said Ogbar.

On Monday, MEDIC said its medical director reviewed the student’s proposal and said they were looking forward to seeing what comes out of talks with the university.

“I want to see it successful, and I want to see it save someone’s life, which it undoubtedly will,” said Maynard.

A spokesperson with UNC Charlotte confirmed the students are meeting with the Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs on Tuesday.

“The university is awaiting a formal proposal from the group regarding their idea. It would be premature to comment until the proposal has been received and reviewed,” said Director of Issues Management and Media Relations Buffie Stephens.

The next steps would be approval from a medical director and submitting an application to the NC Office of EMS so they can start a pilot program in the fall.

MEDIC has a county-funded partnership with Central Piedmont Community College to help fast-track students into EMT jobs.

As Channel 9 previously reported, MEDIC is working to hire 50 more EMTs and eight more telecommunicators to help meet demand. They are also asking the county for money to buy ten more ambulances.

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