“We’re really focused on bringing preventative medicine as well as giving people resources and information so they can help themselves and their community.”
— Hendrik Bilek, Drexel EMS chief
Drexel’s student-run Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organization has been named one of the best in the country by the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation, a nonprofit professional organization that promotes the development of campus-based emergency response groups.
Drexel’s program is one of only nine in the country to be formally recognized by the organization. It was given a bronze recognition — the highest honor that colleges in the country have thus received — for going above and beyond in emergency management and disaster preparedness.
“This is something that we worked really hard to get and now we’re proud to have it and bring it back to Drexel,” says Hendrik Bilek, chief of Drexel EMS and a nursing senior in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
Founded in 2010, the organization is a student group that falls under the Department of Public Safety. Most of the members are licensed EMTs and other students are in training to become EMTs or are registered in CPR.
Bilek and the other dedicated full-time students in EMS work closely with the Department of Public Safety. They respond to emergencies on campus and provide medical care before the dispatched ambulance and Philadelphia Fire Department arrive.
“We’re professional medical responders who also happen to be full-time students,” says Bilek.