Charlie Frank

Year: 2013

Major: Chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry

Senior Charlie Frank has been a firefighter since he was 16, and EMT since he was 17. Find out exactly what CER (Colby Emergency Response) does and the vital role Charlie fills here at Colby.

So what’s your role in CER (Colby’s Emergency Response program)? How did that come about?

Well, my official title is Chief of Colby Emergency Response— I work with members, rescuers, Delta ambulance (the company that provides transportation services), campus security and the Dean of Students’ Office. Internally, my job is to help find changes to make in CER, to work on training and to add new protocols. As an officer, I’m also on duty one weekday a week (6 p.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Wednesday) and we rotate through the weekends for a total of about 36 hours a week. CER completely volunteer—it’s not as though when I’m duty I can’t do anything else—I just have to carry the bag around and wear the uniform. I also can’t leave campus but doesn’t drastically affect me. I think you figure out how to integrate it, so by now it’s natural to me.

As the chief, I’m often faced with the question, ‘how do we come off as an organization as professional as we know we are?’ We want our partners to trust us and listen to us as valuable resources with the firsthand information we have. I try and model what I can do with CER based on my experiences working as a volunteer firefighter back home—I started when I was 16 in the junior firefighter program and became an EMT when I was 17 and full-status firefighter when I was 18. As I was rising though the ranks of CER I saw its potential to move forward in positive ways. An example is the stickers in every bathroom were put in last January—took a while to plan and process to get that stuff out there.

Wow. Sixteen is pretty young, it’s when most of us finally learn to drive, how did you decide to get involved firefighting?

It was a snap decision I made one day to check it out with a neighbor and I enjoyed it so I’ve continued it ever since. The learning is ongoing; whenever I’m home and have the opportunity to take courses I always do so, it’s lifelong learning for new techniques or new equipment. The field is constantly evolving and it’s good to continue learning and staying updated.

What are some of the upsides/downsides to being Chief of CER?

The only negative aspect is that I have to give up some of my weekends to be on duty, I can’t do what all my friends do, but I’m able to balance it so that I don’t mind taking the shifts and my friends understand that. It becomes a part of your life and those around you learn to understand because someone needs to be around to answer those calls.

What’s great about CER is that because we’re at Colby, which is an educational institution, if people are having trouble getting the job done, we don’t discipline, we educate. We provide them with suggestions and explanations through the science. Colby students really have the passion to understand what’s going on and it’s been really exciting to see people improve by working in a learning environment. Formally I teach CPR but we have a lot of informal sessions on Friday by senior members to explain potential situations and ramifications of every step.

How does being an EMT extend to your personal life or the way you may look out for friends and family?

I don’t think it’s changed my day-to-day interactions with people. I’m more aware of how drastic a serious illness or injury could affect your life so quickly, and I’ve definitely gained a greater respect for life. I’m also more cautious and I don’t do as many crazy things. As an EMT there’s stress and it does take up time buts it’s not bad because I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to. The emergency and drama of the calls doesn’t stress me out too much; it doesn’t affect me personally. I’m able to separate my personal and work life in that regard.

For a lot of people in the EMS, it doesn’t change who you are, it’s because of who you are that you were naturally led to do this sort of thing… it requires commitment and dedication to do, so those who do it are really interested in it.

How are you involved with EMT/medical work outside of Colby?

For the past two summers I’ve worked at a children’s hospital in Philadelphia doing neurology research. On nights and weekends I worked at the ambulance company, which is a paid position.

I was also on call for fire department by carrying a pager. Since it’s a volunteer role, not a staffed station, I respond and go to the call if the pager goes off. The guys at the department are my second family. We choose to be at the station. We have different events at the firehouse such as fundraisers, and we’re often just there to hang out, check on equipment or wait for calls…

It’s true that you have to balance the groups you hang out with, but I’m really close to the firefighters, they’re like my brothers and I wouldn’t trade any of it to do anything else.

What’s next for you after the end of senior year?

I’ve been accepted to medical school, I haven’t chosen which one yet but it’s definitely a relief to know that I’ll be going somewhere. Afterwards, my hope is to go into trauma care for emergency medicine or general surgery. There’s a lot of fields I haven’t been exposed to yet; I could easily see myself changing what I might want to do—part of medical school is the rotations that help you figure out your career.

Medical school sounds challenging, how do you hope to continue with EMT activities?

I certainly hope to continue, there will come a time for a hiatus, I think but I want to continue once my time commitments stabilize. In the future, further off, I would like to be the medical director of my service back home. The director reviews protocols, at what the paramedics and EMTs in his/her service can do to improve based on the service area and answers any questions people have about treatment.

What do you do when you’re not an EMT?

I hang out, go out with my friends…. anything all Colby students do to have fun and enjoy themselves! In the winter I like to go skiing. Over my time here I haven’t gotten outside as much as I’d like to, but I try and make time for it.

What’s your advice to students regarding CER and life at Colby?

Always err on the side of caution; if you call us (CER), our focus is to provide care, we’re not involved in the disciplinary process. Don’t live in fear of calling us, but certainly realize that if a friend needs help, evaluate why you’re hesitant to call—is it really not that serious or are you afraid to get in trouble? Think about if your friend is going to be ok. Would you be comfortable waking up the next morning or would you have doubts that you should have called?  For the most part we don’t have many those issues, only a portion of the calls is related to alcohol. Colby students are generally pretty adept and proactive at calling.

In general, if something is interesting, just do it. I’ve sampled a lot her at Colby, and if you’re not doing what you want to do you won’t be happy here, so that’s what I’ve tried to do in my time here. I like doing EMS and that’s why I do it.