The Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps, a 'what if' that started 20 years ago with $425 from the Union Senate, celebrated its 20th anniversary Saturday night with a gala. "By definition a 'what if' is going to be met by skepticism because it hasn't been done yet," Jim Meisel '85 said. Meisel, who now works as an internist and clinical educator at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, served as the keynote speaker. He conceived the idea in the spring of 1982, and after working with the Department of Public Safety and the Brandeis administration, BEMCo went online at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 23, 1983.

Meisel reminisced about the core' founding and the initial obstacles founders faced. "We needed to make sure it was clear we weren't there to compete" with Public Safety, he said. "Campus police relations were variable at best," Meisel said.

"BEMCo is resilient. BEMCo survives," Secretary Hillary Yaffe '03 said, speaking before a crowd of nearly 200.

With the Senate funds and a couple hundred dollars of outside donations, BEMCo purchased a large first-aid kit, and decided it could go without an obstetrics kit for the time being. As it turned out, however, BEMCo's first call was a woman in labor in Lemberg. Meisel remarked that responders were relieved to see an ambulance pull away with the patient as they arrived. The core initially received about two or three calls a week, and only 68 in its first semester.

"It took about three semesters for the words 'medical emergency' to be synonymous with BEMCo," Meisel said.

The corps, with more than 50 active emergency medical technicians and over 300 alumni, has received 207 calls this academic year and has answered 4,644 calls since its inception. EMT's are equipped to provide 911 EMS service, and respond to chest pains, intoxication and other medial emergencies.

"We've responded to thousands of calls and helped thousands of patients during the important moments in their lives," Director of Operations and Co-supervisor Chris DeRienzo '03 said.