A closer look at WEMS, Willamette’s student first responders

Anya Olsson ('24) fully fitted up in her WEMS uniform on Jan. 16, 2026 at Willamette University. Photo by Sofie Szigeti.

On late afternoons in Willamette, you may spot a student carrying a giant red backpack and a dark blue uniform shirt. These students are a part of Willamette Emergency Medical Services (WEMS). 

Every day of the week, from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m., volunteers of hardworking student first responders are ready to take on a call from a student in need of medical assistance. For any student who would like to participate in medical service work, here’s what it’s like to work in WEMS. 

WEMS consists of a student body of responders, supervisors and executive members. All WEMS members have the certification to be emergency medical responders. Before they become a part of WEMS, they start off their journey with a week-long training program one week before school starts in either the fall or spring semester. Students are allowed to sign up as early as the spring semester of their first year. During the week, members take an EMS course led by an instructor who is a respiratory therapist and has done volunteer paramedic work, with all members completing five different skill tests and a multiple choice question at the very end. When a student officially joins WEMS, they are certified in CPR and know how to do basic life support, splint certain fractures and stop external bleeding. 

Anya Olsson (’28) took the fall 2025 course and is now a responder. Her motivation to join WEMS was because she was “interested in emergency medicine but had never had any formal introduction to it.” She saw that Willamette offered an EMS program on campus, which was appealing because to her, “it’s accessible, and there’s training that is flexible with students’ schedules because [WEMS] understands that students have to go to school.” 

When Olsson first started her time on call, she worked as a shadow to a responder. During the shadowing stage, instead of doing any hands-on medical assistance, they take notes, write vitals and observe while accompanying their responder. Olsson shadowed for around two months until the responder got a call in November. Once a shadow gets an experience being on scene, they graduate from shadow to responder. 

After experiencing being a responder, WEMS students may want to become a supervisor or an executive member within the group, like Allie Jakubaukas (’27), who is a co-director, treasurer and supervisor for WEMS. As an executive member, Jakubaukas teaches drills and does administrative tasks to keep the club running in addition to her supervisory role regarding responses. 

As a supervisor, Jakubaukas attends an additional hour of training every week and is in charge of calling the responders when they receive a call from Campus Safety that medical assistance is needed. A supervisor assigns roles, such as charting, taking vitals or interacting with the patient, and also assigns equipment to WEMS members when meeting to go on call. Some of the equipment include an oxygen bag and an automated external defibrillator (AED). 

When they’re on duty, WEMS students spend their day like any other student. Jakubaukas remarked that when a WEMS member is on call, “You can pretty much go about your normal day as long as you’re on campus. You can still go to the library, watch a movie in your dorm, go to Goudy or sleep. We have these big black flip phones that Campus Safety calls us on; you just have to have your WEMS bag with you wherever you go.” If students live off campus, they stay overnight in a bunk room in Doney when they are on call. 

When WEMS students like Olsson and Jakubaukas get a call, the supervisor will call the responders on duty to set up a location to pick them up. After a call is completed, which means that the patient has signed a refusal form stating that they are comfortable with WEMS leaving, all WEMS members will head to Campus Safety where they write charts on the patient, which are stored in Bishop Wellness Center. Once supplies are cleaned and restocked, as Jakubaukas said, “we’re back on service for the next call.” 

The WEMS team values taking care of their members just as much as their patients. Jakubaukas stated that afterward, supervisors ensure that they “debrief with the team on what went well and how people think they did. If it was a hard call or something difficult or abnormal, we remind everyone of resources on campus.”