GERMS Information

The Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (commonly known as GERMS) is a student run, volunteer emergency ambulance service available to Georgetown University and the surrounding community, including the main campus and the neighborhoods of West Georgetown, Burleith, and Foxhall. An ambulance crew of three EMT-Bs is on-duty 24 hours a day throughout the majority of the calendar year, including the summer. GERMS ambulances are equipped to offer basic life support services, including early defibrillation via AED, with advanced life support assistance available from DC Fire & EMS. GERMS handles approximately one thousand calls per year. It has responded to car accidents, heart attacks, head and spinal injuries, and other medical emergencies in the past year alone.

All members of GERMS are nationally certified EMT-Bs. Our two ambulances transport patients to Georgetown University Medical Center, conveniently located on the University's main campus. Advanced Life Support (ALS) services are provided by DC Fire & EMS paramedic units.

GERMS is run entirely by Georgetown University students. GERMS operations are governed by the Crew Chief Council, while administrative and personnel matters are handled by the executives and board of directors. GERMS operates under Student Health, which provides our faculty advisor. Our medical direction is provided by the Georgetown University Medical Center's Emergency Department.

Currently, GERMS possesses two ambulances, the newest of which was acquired in 2005, and enjoys a membership of over one-hundred DC certified EMT-Bs, the large majority of whom are undergraduates. A crew of three is on duty at all times, available by two-way radios and dispatched by Georgetown University’s Department of Public Safety (DoPS).

In addition to serving the Georgetown University Main Campus Community, GERMS members also participate in stand-by medical coverage for events at RFK stadium and the Mall, such as the concerts and athletic events. At the request of the DC Office of Emergency Health and Medical Services, GERMS members staffed the 2001, 2005, and 2009 Inaugurations of Presidents Bush and Obama. In September of 2005, GERMS participated in two hundred and forty hours of direct volunteer service in response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, when the District of Columbia welcomed more than four hundred people to stay at the DC Armory.