Why Volunteer
Rock Medicine volunteers work with the organization for a variety of reasons including gaining healthcare experience, teaching, giving back to the community, and to see their friends they developed through the RockMed community.
Students:
For those interested in healthcare, Rock Medicine is an opportunity not just to work with healthcare professions, but get to directly contribute to patient care. Working under supervision of licensed volunteers, students are often able to help with patient extrication, take histories, monitor the patient, establish a discharge plan, and can often make the difference as to whether a patient is safely able to be discharged or is transported to the hospital. All volunteers will at minimum learn basic assessment skills and how to take vitals.
Healthcare Professionals:
Many of our volunteers hold professional licenses or certifications and volunteer with Rock Medicine because it allows them to utilize their license in a different role. RockMed volunteers work at the top of their licenses, with nurses often taking the lead on assessing and treating their patients and supervising students who are assisting in care. Many of our clinicians do not regularly work in the emergency department, so Rock Med allows them to see and treat patients with complaints they typically would not in their daily practice. Licensed volunteers also enjoy the opportunity to be able to teach and mentor healthcare students.
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Volunteer Roles
Many of our volunteers have been with the organization for years and eventually take on other roles such as logistics, dispatching, education, or event medical management.
Rock Medicine also provides both EMS and RN continuing education courses which are open to all volunteers and periodically provides skills sessions for students.
Students:
Rock Medicine prides itself on being a teaching organization and does its best to expose volunteers to new roles they are interested in when it does not impact event operations. Traditionally, volunteers without an EMT or nursing license were placed on field teams until they completed their programs. Over the past few years, we’ve slowly allowed students meeting certain requirements who are interested in the clinic to begin working in the clinic at some events with our nursing staff.
However, many of our volunteers prefer to stay out in the field, interacting with patients, and catching parts of the show. Students who complete a specified Rock Medicine training and their 10 show sheet are eligible to request clinic placement, more information is available here.
Field Teams: EMTs, CPR Volunteers
Field teams are made up of a team lead and at least once EMT certified volunteer. They are posted throughout events and are responsible for responding to calls in the field and assessing/treating patients on scene. If additional care is needed, field teams stabilize the patient and transport them to the medical station via wheelchair or gurney.
Teams are also responsible for extricating the patients from seats and utilizing spinal precautions or restraints when necessary. When not actively responding to calls, they are sometimes posted in the clinic or able to catch parts of the show.
Clinic Staff: RNs, LVNs, Clinicians
Clinic staff manage the clinic, which is usually ALS at large events, and treat both patients that the field staff bring in and patrons which walk into the clinic. Clinics can vary from permanent urgent care style setups such as at Levi’s stadium or operating out of a medical station or even a tent.
While much of care is done utilizing standing orders, a provider or EMS is always a phone call away (if not onsite) for more serious cases. For ALS events with clinicians onsite, they have access to a variety of medications, cardiac monitoring, and materials for wound closure.