Through work and play, the University at Albany community is under constant, attentive care. In a nondescript service building on the western edge of the Uptown Campus, UAlbany’s vigilant guardians are on 24/7 duty, awaiting the electronic wail of tones that signal a call for help. This is Five Quad Volunteer Ambulance Service — a crew of highly trained student EMTs — which celebrates fifty years of service this year.
For half a century, Five Quad members have responded to emergencies at UAlbany and in surrounding municipalities, supervised athletic matches and special events on and off campus, trained UAlbany students in lifesaving care and partnered with community groups to promote public health and safety. Today, with 70 current members and a deep bench of active alums who return to take shifts, the student-run volunteer agency responds to around 800 calls per year. All services are provided without charge.
It all started with an injured football player and a first-semester transfer student who wanted better care for his community.
In the fall of 1970, Barry Bashkoff ’72, MS ’73 was starting his first semester as a transfer student at UAlbany. Itching to feel some school spirit, he headed to the football stadium to take in a home game. All was going smoothly until a UAlbany player got hurt. The injured athlete was examined on the field, where he lay motionless on the grass. Officials carried him to the sidelines on a stretcher and the game resumed. Bashkoff watched, stunned, as the player lay in agony for more than 45 minutes before an ambulance finally arrived.
With experience in emergency response as a volunteer firefighter, Bashkoff was spurred to action. UAlbany needed an on-campus ambulance service.
Marc Stern ’75 was the only attendee at the first general interest meeting that Bashkoff arranged. “Creating an ambulance from scratch was an exciting idea, and Barry was a charismatic type – with his many documents and plans,” says Stern, now a career physician specializing in correctional medicine and also a clinical associate professor at UAlbany’s School of Public Health. “Although neither of us had any ambulance experience, we were committed to the project. I will say that we didn’t necessarily go in a logical order. At the start, we were more worried about buying sirens and lights long before we had anything to put them on. But that’s ok. We got there.”
“It is a rare breed of person who’s willing to sacrifice personal time and take energy away from their work as a student to do something that benefits the community,”
Accounting major Jane Reich ’75, who later married Stern, learned about the embryonic ambulance service from a friend who encouraged her to connect with Stern. One conversation later, she dove in — an important addition to the team since she was already an EMT and the only one with ambulance experience.
“There was a lot of skepticism among members of the University’s leadership around the idea we were proposing,” Reich explained. “It was a big responsibility, and we were students who had lots of other things going on. How could they rely on a bunch of undergrads to go to class, maintain 24-hour service and give up their weekends?”
Yet, from inception to present, 50 years of “Five Quadders” have done exactly that.
“It is a rare breed of person who’s willing to sacrifice personal time and take energy away from their work as a student to do something that benefits the community,” says Reich. “But that has been a constant through Five Quad’s history. Every Five Quadder I know has that same set of shared values and commitment to serve.”
As a fully certified state EMS agency, Five Quad responds to calls within a five-mile radius of the Uptown Campus through mutual aid agreements with EMS agencies in Guilderland and Albany. When there is a need further afield, Five Quad is ready to assist: In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Five Quad sent a crew to Manhattan to help workers involved in remediation efforts. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Five Quad worked with NY State EMS to blend their services and resources with other agencies, primarily Nanuet EMS in Rockland County, to continue providing care at a time of critical need. Five Quad’s partnership with Nanuet EMS continues to this day.
Matthew Zoda ’20 was the chief of Five Quad when the pandemic began. “Five Quadders were in the middle of it, and they saw things they never would have encountered on campus before. We were using PPE that most members had never even heard of. There was a lot of unknown,” says Zoda, whose brother Kevin Zoda is the current chief. “That so many were willing to go into new territory, work with new people, go to hospitals they’d never been to — it all highlights the dedication and selflessness of everyone involved.”
In 1971, Bashkoff’s first official request for a campus ambulance service was rejected. How would a student group with no budget obtain an ambulance, equipment and training in emergency medicine? To make administrative headway, they had to prove they could meet those needs.
Bashkoff continued organizing meetings to drum up student interest. These gatherings evolved to feature First Aid training led by Stern and formative member Bob Davis ’77, both of whom had American Red Cross teaching experience. The training was a popular draw and helped students secure basic and advanced first aid certifications – both of which were required to undertake Emergency Medical Technician training. Bashkoff worked with doctors from Albany Medical Center to coordinate courses for students to become EMT-certified. Over three semesters, they trained more than 60 members.
That rigorous preparation continues today, as does the tradition of Five Quad members taking the lead in the training process. Prospective members first apply and interview. Those selected undertake a semester-long training course, led by Five Quad members, during which they learn key lifesaving skills including CPR, First Aid, patient transport, assessing vital signs, splinting and bleed mitigation. Student trainers administer written and practical exams to confirm skill proficiency. Additionally, members must take an EMT course with an EMS agency or other authorized entity to obtain their New York State EMT certification.
“We know we face extra scrutiny as a collegiate EMS agency,” says Shauna Fowler ’23, Five Quad lieutenant and 2022-23 treasurer, who logged nearly 1,000 on-duty hours that academic year. “That’s why we require members to take observer shifts, interview senior members, undergo regular evaluations and do skills assessments at the beginning of every semester. We are dedicated to this work and take seriously our responsibility to uphold the agency’s reputation.”
"We know we face extra scrutiny as a collegiate EMS agency,"
This feeling of commitment is intrinsic to the agency and is part of what drives members to maintain an exacting standard of excellence in procedure and patient care.
“In the beginning, we knew that we were on thin ice – in that we were a new, student-run volunteer agency shouldering a big responsibility,” Reich says. “Even when we [the chiefs] weren’t on shift, we would carry radios so we could help if someone on duty needed guidance during a call. If something went wrong, it could be the end of the agency.”
With trained members at the ready, next, the squad needed ambulances. Responding to the crew’s community all-call for used vehicles, local emergency response agencies generously donated Five Quad’s first three ambulances: Sea Biscuit, White Lightning and Goldenrod. Further donations of equipment and supplies provided the fledgling agency with ample materials to begin their work.
On Oct. 1, 1973, after clearing a series of additional hurdles — obtaining insurance, securing a local ambulance service for summer coverage — Five Quad Volunteer Ambulance Service was ready to deploy.
Its first headquarters was a disused luggage room in the basement of State Quad. Today the agency operates two fully equipped ambulances and a flycar — an SUV used for calls that don’t require patient transport — out of their designated station, which also houses a dispatch room, two bunkrooms and a conference room.
In the 2022-23 academic year, Five Quad responded to 780 calls. This community resource is made possible with funding from the student activity fee, which supports the agency’s operating expenses, and the volunteer members who give countless hours to learn, teach and deliver lifesaving care.
Members’ service often continues after graduation. Alums pursue careers in healthcare, emergency preparedness, law enforcement, business and other diverse fields that honor the agency’s tradition of helping others.
“Once I got involved in training and caring for people, it clicked. I realized that emergency medicine must be my purpose,” says Deb Funk Valois ‘91, now a career emergency department physician. “Without my experience in Five Quad, I don’t think I would have chosen this field,” says Funk Valois, who entered UAlbany wanting to become a teacher. “Even today, I sometimes ask myself ‘Why do I do this?’ It’s hard — emotionally, physically. I primarily work nights and I often drive a good distance. There are no weekends, no holidays, no ‘off’. But every once in a while, you help just the right person who has just the right words, or you realize that you truly made a difference in someone’s life – and in those moments, you remember why.”
*Editor’s note: Barry Bashkoff’s (1950-2020) firsthand account of Five Quad’s formation was an instrumental resource and was generously shared for this story by Five Quad alum Amanda Kimler ’18, now a registered nurse and who served as historian and vice president, and Barry’s wife Allison Bashkoff MBA ’93.
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