Willamette Emergency Medical Services (WEMS), the university’s student-run emergency medical service, has not been taking calls since Sept. 30. They are off-call due to delays in funding from the Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU), along with contract negotiation issues with Salem Health. However, the group is hoping to return to on-call status by early November or, at the latest, before the fall semester is over.
WEMS was founded in 1997 as a way to support students and uplift the community and is one of several confidential resources on campus for students. Staffed by EMT-certified students, WEMS had plans to expand their service going into this year to be available daily from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m., before determining they would be unable to practice medicine at all.
Lane Lyman (’26) and Aspen Perry (’25), the two executive directors of WEMS, explained the legal contracts between WEMS and Salem Health that resulted in their off-call status. Like most student-run organizations, WEMS is funded by ASWU, but they work with Brian Clothier, a physician and director at Salem Health. “We have a contract with [Clothier] that we renew annually, but we need a certain amount of money to do that,” Perry explained. Normally a contract renewal would not impact WEMS to this extent, but “it was a matter of renegotiating the contract to adjust for inflation,” Perry stated. These complications with both ASWU and Salem Health have led WEMS to be unable to take calls until funding can be sorted out.
One consequence of WEMS being off-call is a decrease in support for the community, as well as one less emergency resource for students. Because WEMS takes calls from Campus Safety and assesses situations depending on severity and students’ needs, it is an important resource for student support and advice.
WEMS is now trying to negotiate wage increases with ASWU and needs those numbers to renew WEMS’ contract with Salem Health. “I’m sure other club leaders have been dealing with the same delays as we are with round one,” Perry said. This funding from ASWU is what keeps WEMS operating as a club and a business.
These delays are causing Lyman and Perry to focus on other aspects of WEMS as a club and an education service, with both assuring that they are still taking measures to keep their employees sharp. “A silver lining has been lots of time to get up to speed,” Lyman said. Despite not being on-call, WEMS still participates in weekly meetings and communicates with the Willamette community through their Instagram. Lyman and Perry hope to focus on community outreach whilst waiting for these issues to be resolved.