TAMPA, Fla. – Hundreds of medical calls were made during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and some of the first responders who responded to those calls gained real-life experience before they even graduated from college. this is a part University of South Florida Medical Response Unit.

“We have cold packs, hot packs, splints. We even had a birthing kit in case someone gave birth on campus,” said Joshua Szabo, an EMT and field training officer with USF’s Medical Response Unit (MRU). “Between calls, we like to restock all of our products, we also go past the expiration dates on most of our products. So we’re always checking expiration dates between shifts and making sure we have enough of everything.”

USF’s MRUs are all certified and USF students and form an all-volunteer team of 60 certified paramedics, EMTs, and emergency medical responders.

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“This was one of the first ways I was able to get into real medicine, and it was something that really excited me,” Szabo said.

They often load up their vehicles and go to medical calls to treat students on campus for free.

“We’ve seen a lot of people who feel very faint, who faint. Typically they have a history of cardiac arrest,” said Taylor Williams, an EMT and field training officer who is entering her third year at USF’s MRU. “I actually wasn’t sure if I wanted to go into medicine when I started college. But one of my roommates actually took an EMR course offered by a club on campus, so I decided to go ahead and do that.”

Williams, Szabo and their team recently increased their hands-on experience during Helene and Milton.

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“This was my first time being deployed as a disaster response team,” Williams said.

As a disaster response team, St. They treated patients at the federal field hospital outside St. Joseph hospital and patients at three shelters in Hillsborough County.

“Learning how to manage over 300 people with a team of only 16 people was very challenging and interesting,” Williams said.

They tested their skills on more than 300 medical calls during hurricanes.

“I had a few patients, especially those with Alzheimer’s disease, and they were really excited to have someone take care of them and talk to them,” Szabo said. “In our free time, we would sit and talk to the patients for a bit.”

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It will serve Williams, Szabo and the rest well when they are ready to leave USF and begin careers in medicine.

“I’m actually applying to medical schools right now. I’m not exactly sure what specialty I want to go into, but I’m happy to see where it takes me and help where I can,” Williams said.

Help is needed in Florida, where there is a shortage of doctors and nurses, and their time in USF’s medical response unit gives them an advantage.

“A lot of people see it as an intangible thing, and knowing that I’ve been there and been around other people, like hurting students and things like that, I think the level of experience is going to be a big thing and being able to pull that off,” Szabo said.

USF’s MRU was first launched in 2020 and is staffed by volunteers who all work different shifts. The team’s goal is to fill gaps on campus for free when students are hesitant to seek care due to cost.

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