Rice EMS heads to Panama

Members of Rice Emergency Medical Services (REMS) are taking the student-run service way outside the hedges — to Panama.

For the next week, REMS will be in the canal zone to teach an emergency care attendant course. The 40-hour class is an entry-level EMS training class and offers an introduction to life-saving skills for personnel who may act as primary responders or in a support role in case of a large-scale emergency.

A group of 25 personnel from the American Embassy in Panama will be taking the course.

Traveling from Rice are Mark Escott ’96, REMS medical director and founder of REMS; Shane Jenks, REMS assistant medical director; Lisa Basgall, director of REMS; Patrick McCarthy, Baker College rising senior and REMS captain; Jesse Passman, Baker College rising senior and REMS senior lieutenant; and Wilhelm Kienast ’12, former REMS member.

Mike Escott ’98, who is a security official with the State Department and Mark Escott’s brother, organized the project.