USF launches Florida’s first university ambulance service

TAMPA, Fla. — The University of South Florida is operating what officials say is the first university ambulance service in Florida, after receiving the licenses needed to run it on campus this semester.

The service is run by USF’s Medical Response Unit and is free for patients. Officials said the goal is to improve access to care and support existing emergency services in the campus area.

“We wanted to remove cost, that fear of that financial consideration from preventing people from accessing their health care services,” said Austin Jared, EMS chief for the USF Medical Response Unit. “So that was a huge thing for us.”

In past years, the Medical Response Unit was not licensed to care for patients on the road. After more than a decade of work, USF began operating the ambulance service this semester.

Jared said the unit’s service area includes 105,000 people and more than 45,000 cars during peak hours.

“That’s a pretty incredible amount of people, and with that, there’s a tremendous demand for health care services,” Jared said. “So we wanted to hopefully be able to supplement the system and the existing infrastructure that’s already here and give back to our community.”

The unit receives an average of three calls a day. Licensed volunteers respond to those calls and prepare the ambulance after each response by cleaning equipment and checking supplies.

“We get a bag check assigned to us on the computer so we can pull that up,” said Andrew Driggers, a volunteer paramedic with the USF Medical Response Unit. “And it’s got a list of everything we need with the numbers that we need and their amounts that we need.”

Driggers said the program is a way for students and volunteers with emergency medical training to get involved.

“If anybody is coming to college and wants to get involved, we have EMR, EMTs and paramedics,” Driggers said. “So if anybody wants to get involved in this, I think it’s a great way to do it.”

Officials said the ambulance service is not a replacement for 911. Anyone experiencing a life-threatening emergency should still call 911.