Club spotlight: Geneseo First Response
Image via assistant photo editor Mollie Wadhams
Interested in helping your fellow peers and getting some First Response experience? Consider applying to join the Geneseo First Response! According to their website, Geneseo First Response, or GFR, is a “student-run, volunteer organization based at SUNY Geneseo that provides emergency medical services to the Geneseo campus community,” and they “provide emergency medical care to students, faculty, staff, and visitors of Geneseo at the Basic Life Support level.” They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As long as students are on campus, GFR is operating.
Geneseo’s First Response (GFR) hosted an interest event in the Union Corner Pocket on the evening of Apr. 28, providing information on what GFR is all about. You could play pool with your friends and some of the current members of GFR, hear what it is like to be a member of GFR, and ask questions. They also provided a variety of food and drinks for those who came by and chatted. The spread included pizza, brownies, cookies, rice crispy treats, and an assortment of sodas and water. Everyone was friendly and excited to talk about their experiences in GFR; the sense of community and value was strong and refreshing to see.
Sawyer Wilson, a sophomore childhood special education major discussed his personal experience joining GFR.
“It’s an amazing group of people,” Wilson said. “They all really do care about each other and want to see the new members succeed. I would encourage anyone to just go ahead and make the jump.” Watching the interactions between the members at the event, you could see how much they care about one another and the people they serve in this community.
How do you join GFR? The applications to join typically open up at the beginning, or a few weeks before the beginning, of each semester. This application can be found online on the SUNY Geneseo website under the Geneseo First Response section. After you fill out this application, you may then be asked to participate in a group interview. There, they will interview you with others and do some group exercises. After that interview you may be asked to attend an individual interview and then to become a GFR member.
Once you become a member you will not immediately go into the field; you have to first complete a six-week training course and pass a final test before you can become a “full-working” member. This training involves learning functional processes, terms you should know, what a shift change is, how to take vitals, how to stop a bleed, how to perform CPR, etc. These training sessions usually take about an hour and are hosted once a week for six weeks. After this, you would take the test, half of which consists of a written portion, and half of which is practical work. Once you pass this test you can begin to take shifts. The semester after you join you are required to have 144 hours a semester, with each shift totaling about 12 hours and occurring bi-weekly.
The Geneseo First Response is comprised of a beautiful team of dedicated individuals to promote and provide safety on campus for everyone. It is such a rewarding experience and great hands-on experience. If you are interested, take a look at the Geneseo First Response website and apply!