The Battalion • Page 3
Thursday • August 3, 1993
To the rescue
tudents gain experience through Emergency Care Team
Mike Friend, The Battalion
lEmergency Care Team members Jennifer Powell, Kathy Miller and John Carson work together to restrain a patient before moving her.
11
By Amy Collier
he Battalion
l| n the basement of A.P. Beutel Health Gen
ii ter, a group of students sit together chatting
|l about their week’s adventures.
They talk about saving a drunk diabetic, a
person who did not look before he crossed the
street and administering CPR to a heart at-
ftack victim.
For volunteers for the Texas A&M Univer
sity Emergency Medical Services, these heroic
iacts are all part of the job.
Chris Gideon, a senior wildlife ecology ma
jor and assistant chief of Texas A&M EMS,
said people do not realize all of the emergency
tedical technicians at A&M are students.
‘We try to keep it a student organization to
show how dedicated the students are,” Gideon
said. “It takes a lot of dedication. That’s how
re’re able to be here. I believe that every sin
gle person I work with here is very dedicated
id true to their ideals.”
To volunteer for EMS, students must be on
the Emergency Care Team, which accepts new
tembers each semester.
The Emergency Care Team was started
in 1976 by four students who used a sta-
,ion wagon as an ambulance. The organiza-
don now has 130 members — 45 of which
re volunteers for EMS — and has three ful-
j ly equipped ambulances.
Matt Seibert, a senior computer science
major and president of the Emergency Care
Team, said that when he looks at old scrap
books of the Care Team, he realizes how much
the organization has grown and improved.
“It makes me just extremely proud when I
look back,” he said. “Since then, we have ex
panded from the University to the community
at large. That’s extremely important.”
The Emergency Care Team staffs first aid
stations at football games, Bonfire and com
munity events, such as the Special Olympics
and horse shows.
The tfeam offers classes to its members to
help them achieve different state certifica
tions, ranging from dispatcher to paramedic.
Seibert said that although many of the
team’s members are planning on going into
the medical field, membership is not restricted
to any academic discipline.
“We get as many people that are interested
in just helping people,” Seibert said. “We’re a
purely service-oriented organization.”
Seibert said the team members that are
also part of EMs go beyond normal dedication.
“The people on EMS are so gung-ho and
dedicated to the Care Team to become an
EMT,” Seibert said.
Students who become EMTs must work a
14-hour night shift and several day shifts be
tween classes each week.
Seibert said that by responding to two or
three emergency calls a night, workers
gain and share medical knowledge with
other students.
“This is really good exposure to different in
juries and illnesses,” he said. “We serve the
students who join by broadening their hori
zons. You can really trade information.”
John Carson, a senior biomedical science
major, said working for the A&M EMS
gives him valuable experience he can use
in medical school.
“The best thing about this is I have a
chance to do things,” Carson said. “I’ve worked
in hospitals before, and they just don’t teach
you as much. I like the responsibility that it
allows you to have.”
Christine Christ, a senior biomedical sci
ence major, recently was certified as a
paramedic after being on the Care Team
for three years.
“It feels very good,” she said. “It was every
thing I’ve ever learned at A&M all in one
class. It’s something I can put to use.”
Christ said her efforts are not always ap
preciated because many of the sick and hurt
people she helps do not think they need med
ical attention.
“It’s a thankless job,” Christ said. “You get
the gratitude from yourself.”
Sometimes the EMTs do get recognized for
their efforts.
Carson said he was rewarded when he got
a call from a girl thanking him for his help.
“It just kind of made me drop my jaw and
say, Thank you,”’ Carson said. “It made me
feel that all of those hours I’ve worked were
paid off just with one thank you.”
Stew Milne, The Battalion
The 5th Annual Brazos Balloon Classic and Hydro-
|fest kicks off Friday evening at 6 p.m. with the release of
about 30 balloons at Lake Bryan Park.
The Rockafellas take the stage around the same time
jwith Vince Vance and the Valiants performing at 9 p.m.
The balloons will lift off early Saturday morning at 7
a.m. Boat and jet ski races start at 8 a.m. and last until 6
p.m.
Ezra Charles and the Works will perform Saturday
night. The balloons make their final appearance Sunday
| morning at 7 a.m. followed by the boat races. The
festival ends at 6 p.m.
Thursday
Rage and Eden, a cover
band, is playing at The Tap.
John Reyna, a progressive
country artist, is playing at
Fitzwilly's.
Friday
The Bounty Hunters, a
country band, is at The
Texas Hall of Fame.
Bobby Hall and the Ice
Cold Blues Band is
performing at Sweet
Eugene's House of Java.
Miss Molly and the Whips,
a blues rock performer from
Louisiana, is playing at 3rd
Floor Cantina.
Miss Molly was voted "Best
R&B Blues Band" and "Best
Performer" by the Houston
Press Music Awards in
1 992. Miss Molly is known
for her daring shows and
unique style of music
which she describes as
"that blues-influenced,
rock-tinged thang."
Peeping Tom, a local cover
band with a few original
songs, is playing at The Tap.
Larry Stewart, a country
performer from Nashville, is
playing at Denim &
Diamonds.
After playing with country
band Restless Heart,
Stewart established a
following when he released
a self-titled debut last year.
Stewart recently released
another album titled Heart
Like A Hurricane.
Saturday
Mike Cancellare, an
acoustic performer, is
playing at Sweet Eugene's
House of Java.
Eugene Eugene and the
Solid Foundation Band,a
rhythm and blues band, is
playing at 3rd Floor
Cantina.
The Expense, a cover band,
is playing at The Tap.
country band, is playing at
The Texas Hall of Fame.
Television can
offer sad truths
Elizabeth *
Preston
Columnist
I never used to watch televi
sion, refusing to give in to the
little box that controlled the
life of so many of my friends. I
fought it for years, protesting
not only that it was inane and
stupid, but that it hurt people
more than it helped.
Then I discovered Homer,
Lisa, Bart, Marge, Maggie and
the whole town of Springfield. I
couldn’t resist such truth, such
beauty and such humor.
Homer, the dad — for those of
you living under the same rock
that I lived under for so long —
is a true lug. He is a worthless
lump of beer-belly who loves
his wife and children only
slightly less than he loves for
bidden doughnuts.
He is obviously representa
tive of the slothful and spoiled
“white male” in society. Homer,
that lumbering, useless man
who barely keeps his job at the
local nuclear power plant, is
clearly all that is wrong in soci
ety. Without his ever-competent
wife Marge to keep him togeth
er, he would never leave the
couch, except to get a beer.
To balance him out within the
television show is the perfect
child, Lisa. She is the
brainiest child to
ever grace the
halls of Spring-
field Elementary
School, and she
loves to study
and learn. She
is socially ac
tive, unpreju
diced and very
feminist — ob
viously, the per
fect person. Lisa
is utterly embar
rassed by her in
ept father and
weird family, but
she loves them in
spite of their obvi
ous flaws.
What the world
needs is more Lisas and
fewer Barts, the terrible
older brother who haunts
and torments everyone in
the show - except, of course,
the school bully, Nelson,
who torments him.
Bart is the rebel, the mean
one, the book-dumb, people-
smart brat who terrorizes his
teacher and picks on anyone
younger and weaker than him.
He listens to no one, obeys no
one, and respects no one — ex
cept occasionally Marge. Bart
lives a wild life, accompanied
only by his nerdy and nice best
friend, Millhouse.
Bart represents the ultimate
“boys will be boys” cliche that
most of us were forced to grow
up with. While girls were taught
that they should be smart and
quiet, like Lisa, many of the
boys were learning how to be
Bart — tricking and cheating
their way through life.
There is a seemingly limitless
number of perfectly-drawn char
acters, from the uptight and
goofy fundamental Christian
neighbors to the town drunk,
Barney. All are grossly stereo
typical, but each character sends
an important message.
Every character represents
some part of society, and each
show has a hidden point, teaching
some moral or lesson that Bart
invariably ignores.
The Simpsons represent the
prototypical American family —
loud, dumb, obnoxious yet lov
ing. Television finally captured
every stereotype it perpetrated
and delivered them all in “The
Simpsons.”
Most television is, if not evil,
definitely detrimental to those
who watch it. It regularly capti
vates children, keeping them
prisoners and teaching them
about sex, violence and the hor
rors of the world long before
they need to learn about them.
In addition, many college stu
dents are caught almost nightly
by the glare of the “boob tube”
and forgo studies, friends and
conversation to become minia
ture Homer Simpsons. While de
voting life to beer and watching
television looks fun on televi
sion, in reality it leaves a lot to
be desired.
Homer, Marge and the rest
of the gang may be fun to
watch on television, but Ameri
can society is taking them a bit
too seriously.
A huge problem with televi
sion is that watchers often be
come couch potatoes, just like
Homer Simpson, who never
tear themselves away
from it and often
forget the differ
ence between
what is on
their screen
and the
real
world.
Television certainly has its
place in modem society, but it
only deserves a minor role among
a myriad of other interests.
Watching television is not a
substitute for life.
A life where Homer Simpson
is the ideal and Bart is seen as
the ultimate “dude” is a sad life
indeed.
Tripping Daisy finds its lucky slot
Tripping Daisy, an alternative band out of Dallas, recently struck
it rich at Harrah’s Casino in Shreveport, LA, with band members
taking home a grand total of $21,500. The biggest winner of the
evening was bassist Mark Pirro who won a jackpot of $19,000 on a
$1 slot machine.
“$19,000 is a lot of money,” he said. “Some people can’t save
that much money their entire life. I consider myself fortunate,
and because I believe in good karma, I guess I should at least be
jenerous with my winnings. That’s why I’ll be giving a third of it
luitarist Wes Berggren took home a cool $2,000 from the black
jack table and singer Tim DeLaughter walked away with a re
spectable $500. Drummer Bryan Wakeland doesn’t gamble.