In this week’s feature, Julia Jester delves into the world of GERMS, relaying a night spent with the on-duty GERMS crew members, and discusses the benefits the organization bring to the students who participate and the University.

“GERMS as an organization, and all of its members, are widely respected for the services that they provide to the University Community.  I don’t even think they always realize that there are people in the University Administration as well as in the Department of Health, the DC City government, and DC Fire/EMS who all have great respect for what the GERMS are doing,” said GERMS medical director Dr. Kori Hudson. “These officials often can’t believe that such a well-run organization is entirely managed by its student members.  It makes me proud to be a part of what they are doing.”

On the Editorial page, the editorial board argues that the Student Code of Conduct should not apply to students who live off campus.

In News, Miles Gavin Meng reports on the most recent college campus ranking that says Georgetown’s students are among the top BitTorrent users.

On the Sports page, Voice Managing Editor Keaton Hoffman covers Georgetown volleyball’s recent defeat of DePaul.

Mary Borowiec reviews Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, an exhibition recently opened at the National Gallery of Art in the Leisure section.

And in Voices, Eileen Marino argues that the phrase “personally pro-life” is an oxymoron and that as a society, by allowing abortion, we are hurting a defenseless group of people.

Finally, Tony and Corinne are back this week with the sixth installment of 50 Shades of Blue and Gray on the back page!

Update (Tuesday, 3:00 p.m.): The Office of Communication issued an update on the employee’s condition. “He sustained serious but not life threatening, injuries, is in stable condition and conscious. He has family with him at the hospital.”

Update (2:05 p.m.): The Office of Communication confirmed that the victim was a University employee. He was performing maintenance and repairs on the field on top of Yates when he fell down the shaft pictured below.

Update (1:42 p.m.): University officials, including representatives of public safety and facilities management, met on Kehoe Field next to the site of the accident (see vent in the bottom right corner of the first image) around 1:00 p.m. There is still no word of a statement from the University.

Photos by John Flanagan

At around 10:00 a.m. this morning, DC Fire and EMS reported that a man – presumed to be a University employee – fell 15 feet into a vent shaft at Yates Field House. Peter Piringer, director of public information at DC Fire and EMS, told Vox that GERMS and DC Fire worked together to extract the man and load him onto a U.S. Park Police helicopter to transport him to the hospital. He could not confirm whether the victim had been taken to George Washington Hospital or Washington Hospital Center, both of which have level I trauma centers. The victim has been taken to Washington Hospital Center, which has a level I trauma center

The University was not available for comment at the time of writing.

Today, at 5:41 p.m., Todd Olson, Vice President of Student Affairs sent a campus-wide email, here below, saying that 28-year old doctoral student Evan North had died in Yates Field House last night.

In an email from Colin Brody (COL ’11), president of GERMS, “GERMS did respond to a medical emergency at Yates Field House this afternoon. Unfortunately, due to HIPAA laws, I cannot make a statement beyond that.”

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Members of the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service, GERMS alumni, students, and administrators took part in a dedication of Unit 9.

Unit 9, the newest and largest ambulance in GERMS’ fleet, features a number of new features that will help GERMS better serve the Georgetown community. The new features include LED lights on both the interior and exterior as well as control monitors in the front and back of the vehicle.

The ambulance’s high-tech equipment is light years ahead of those in GERMS’ first ambulance–a converted hearse purchased in 1983.

President John DeGioia, who became an honorary GERM in 1990, told the members of GERMS that “everyday in this community you make a difference” and that they have made a “great impact on the entire D.C. community.”

During the ceremony, GERMS inducted two new honorary GERMS: Carol Day and Lynne Hirschfeld. Day is GERMS’ faculty advisor and Hirschfeld is the associate dean for finance and administration in the Office of Student Affairs. Hirschfeld was instrumental in securing the funding for the new ambulance.

Colin Brody (COL ’11), president of GERMS, said that in the next ten years Unit 9 will see approximately 10,000 patients and travel 35,000 miles–an impressive number for their range of service.

Photo: Geoffrey Bible

Growing opposition from medical and academic communities may threaten the continued production of Four Loko, a hyper-caffeinated malt liquor dubbed “blackout in a can.”

The main concern? The mix of caffeine and alcohol causes heavier, longer periods of drinking.

Four Loko consumption at college campuses across the country have caused a recent frenzy of backlash against the cheap beverage. Nine students at Central Washington University were hospitalized after drinking Four Loko. Ramapo College, a small public school in New Jersey, banned the drink last month. And earlier today, Harvard University officials warned students to avoid Four Loko. (Even the New York Times jumped on the trend.)

According to Mary Jane Reen (COL ’11), GERMS director of public relations, the D.C. Department of Health is now keeping tabs on Four Loko-related hospitalizations.

“The D.C. Department of Health has asked all EMS agencies in the District of Columbia to report any cases involving consumption of “Four Loko” energy drinks,” Reen wrote in an email. “In order to maintain patient confidentiality, any identifying information is removed before the report is sent to the Department of Health.”

Several states, including New Jersey, Montana, and Utah, are already looking to restrict or ban the sale of caffeinated alcoholic beverages. While D.C. Health Department officials have yet to confirm they are doing the same, Four Loko nonetheless appears to be going the way of Tilt and Sparks.

Call us crazy, but we don’t think a Lokomotive ban will stop college students from finding cheap alcohol.

In a meeting with campus media this evening, Todd Olson, university vice president of student affairs, and Julie Green Batialle, university spokesperson, revealed more details surrounding the DMT arrests in Harbin Hall last Saturday.

“The fact is it was a day that was confusing in many ways,” Olson said.

Olson and Bataille would not comment on any impending disciplinary actions against John Romano (COL ’14) and Charles Smith (SFS ’14), the residents of the ninth-floor Harbin Hall dorm room where Public Safety officers discovered a so-called “DMT lab” early Saturday morning.

At an arraignment hearing at the D.C. District Court this afternoon, Romano was released and relieved of all charges against him. Smith and John Perrone, a freshman at the University of Richmond, will be charged with “conspiracy to manufacture” and “possession with intent to distribute” and will be held without bail until at least Wednesday.

“The students are not on campus at this time,” Olson said. “We take matters like this very seriously.”

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This week’s in Features, Nico Dodd and Sean Quigley profile first-generation college students and how they transition to Georgetown.

“About eight percent of this year’s freshman class, approximately 120 students, are first-generation college students,” they write. “They come from families and, in some cases, communities where attending college is the exception, not the norm.”

News reports that GERMS has not seen a drop in alcohol-related calls, despite a decline in alcohol violations.

In Sports, Adam Rosenfeld looks at the men’s soccer team’s surprising turnaround.

Leisure interviews Carlee Briglia (COL ’10), who filmed a documentary about Georgetown grads pursuing their dreams in India.

In Voices, Sean Quigley defends the brutalist Lauinger Library from students’ brutality.

The Ed Board criticizes the media frenzy surrounding Hardy School sex education.

… Or should we say, sexy samples?

OK, bad joke.

In any event, that’s a slideshow of a few pages from the 2010 – 2011 ‘Men of GERMS’ Calendar, the gem of a date-keeper that the Georgetown Emergency Medical Response Service has already sold to dozens of tittering students.  The proceeds of each $10 calendar go to benefit Georgetown Relay For Life and so far, GERMS has sold a little more than half its stock, netting over $700 for Relay.

GU Relay will still gets the profits  for any calendars sold from now until GERMS runs out (Relay’s ongoing until the summer), so you can still buy one for a good cause. Then it’s up to you to figure out what kind of injury you can fake that will require a GERMS man to save you while shirtless. ‘Falling’ into the Yates swimming pool might work. Or maybe passing out during hot yoga.

Students wait in line for the H1N1 vaccine on Friday

When we reported on H1N1 cases at Georgetown in late September, the virus had infected about 250 students and the number of cases was rising precipitously every day. Infection rates have since dropped off. According to an e-mail from Dr. James Welsh, assistant vice president for student health, in the past four weeks, the number of students with Influenza-like Illnesses has dropped to about 35 per week.

Welsh wrote that so far, about 600 students have consulted the Student Health Center with H1N1 symptoms, with cases peaking throughout the month of September. (A report from the President’s Office had expected cases to peak in October).

“There continues to be however, significant signs of illness and we remained concerned about further spread within the GU community,” Welsh wrote.

As Sommer wrote in September, since that number does not include students who were sick but did not seek treatment or advice, that number is likely higher.

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While our friends in Foggy Bottom may be outdoing us in terms of programming  boards and on-campus comedians, there’s one thing they’re still envious of us about: GERMS.

The GW equivalent of GERMS is a “the Emergency Medical Response Group,” or EMeRG.  Apparently EMeRG doesn’t have the same warm relations with the student body it serves that GERMS has.

Because of GW’s medical amnesty policies, EMeRG is required to transport anyone who is assessed for alcohol consumption to the GW Hospital.  According to the GW Hatchet, which is doing a three part series on their school’s medical amnesty policies, the rule discourages people from calling EMeRG and creates hostility towards the program because of the medical bills that accompany the mandatory hospital visit.

The Hatchet highlights GERMS as an example of what EMeRG could be with a few policy tweaks:

The Georgetown student’s relationship with the volunteer GERMS group is worlds apart from the GW student’s relationship with EMeRG. Most importantly, GERMS is not required to transport all students that are assessed to the hospital. The amnesty policy of Georgetown is such that students don’t fear calling GERMS.