In a short amount of time, the relatively new Macalester First Aid (MFA) has made a big impression on campus. Founded six years ago as an on-campus, student-run emergency response program by two students who graduated in 2011, MFA has undergone significant expansion in the past few years.

“MFA was initially created to build the EMS service and to provide a training space,” MFA president Lucy Westerfield ’15 said. It is now an umbrella organization that includes Macalester College Emergency Medical Services. Both MFA and MCEMS have only grown since their respective beginnings.

MFA meets every other week for skills-based games and first aid trivia, and the organization brings CPR trainings to campus at subsidized rates. They also offer an EMT training during January Term and first responder trainings for any interested students.

There are around 30 EMTs and first responders ready to assist Mac students. Westerfield noted that this number is fairly low for them (usually there are closer to 50 trained volunteers), but it usually increases during the spring semester. The exact size of MFA is harder to judge, given the wide scope of its activities and programs, but they have a large email list that alerts subscribers to upcoming events. In this way, people can pick and choose which events they would like to attend.

“There isn’t a need for people to feel an obligation to be involved in a first aid game if they don’t want to be. We really just want people to be able to come, hang out and be interested in first aid. People can be involved in whatever they want, either in the EMS service or in trainings and that sort of thing,” Westerfield said.

Jasmine Landry ’15, the president of MCEMS, like Westerfield, has been intimately involved with both MFA and MCEMS since the fall of 2011. “I would say, as an org, that our goal is essentially to encourage awareness and education surrounding first aid and first response in general,” she said. “We want to foster self-confidence, in terms of first aid medical skills, and to give people the ability to respond to a minor emergency.” She also noted that another major goal of the organization is to create a fun, safe environment, and to “try to normalize [first aid skills] a little bit, try to make it less scary.”

Most important for MFA, though, is its ability to provide a basic level of high-quality medical care to Macalester students. To that end, they have just finished the last of their planned first responder courses for the semester. They may do a few more, since there was a great deal of interest from first years and sophomores this year. So far, about 25 first responders have completed the course and will undergo CPR training in the next few weeks, after which they will be able to provide medical attention on campus. The club also hosted a big medical simulation around Halloween, which has become sort of a tradition. Both Landry and Westerfield described it as one of the club’s most entertaining events of the year.

“I love when people come to me and say, ‘I just feel like it’s really important to know how to do CPR,’ or ‘It’s really important to have first aid skills.’ That’s something we’ve heard increasingly over the years,” Westerfield said. “You don’t need really great science or math abilities [to participate], and it’s really teachable. MFA is a great way to get these important skills.” Landry seconded this, adding, “You don’t have to want to be a doctor, or even to want to be in a medical profession. If you just want to help people, or if you like the adrenaline rush, or if you just think it’s fun, then this is a great club for you. We really do get a wide variety of people.”

If you missed Macalester First Aid at the activities fair, it’s not too late. You can join the mailing list by emailing [email protected], and anyone can stop by a meeting. They are held every other Thursday. The next meeting will be December 4. Joining the mailing list will notify you of any upcoming dates. Anyone with an interest in first aid is welcome.