On Friday afternoon, Gamecock Emergency Medical Students collaborated with LifeNet to host an informative event featuring an emergency-medicine lecture and helicopter landing at the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center.
GEMS gives students opportunities for clinical experience and general education on emergency medicine. It hosts workshops, lectures and certification programs to prepare members for emergency-medicine work.
Serena Bacher, a flight medic with Air Methods, spoke to a group of 40 students about pediatric trauma in a Strom classroom. Throughout the hour-and-a-half lecture, she explained the differences between pediatric and adult patients, assessment methods, and how to handle specific issues such as drowning.
“These are the calls that scare all of us,” Bacher said. “Pediatric isn’t what we see typically.”
After the lecture, 57 students gathered by an outside field to watch the H135 helicopter land. Students were able to explore the interior and sit inside the aircraft.
Flight nurse Tyler Swaney explained the three-man crew’s typical response to an emergency and answered students' questions. The team works 24-hour shifts treating and transporting patients by air.
Swaney said the team is open to serving the community wherever it can. The flight crew does educational appearances for elementary schools and students interested in the medical field, which can help introduce them to career paths like flight nursing, Swaney said.
“We can say, ‘Hey, here’s what other options are available,’” Swaney said. “And just be able to share our story and put it out there about other opportunities in the medical field.”
Third-year biological sciences and psychology student Ella Voyles joined GEMS in the spring of 2025. Voyles found her interest in emergency medicine after shadowing in an emergency room over the summer.
“I do appreciate the connections that it’s given me,” Voyles said. “Just meeting more people that are in the same boat that I am and (knowing) I’m not behind on my pre-med journey."
First-year biological sciences student Laela Inthanongsak attended the lecture on pediatrics trauma. She said it was interesting to hear Bacher’s stories from pediatrics calls and the differences between ground and air transport.
“Hearing about the stories, it’s really sad,” Inthanongsak said. “But it’s really great what they do, and so it’s always awesome to hear.”
GEMS co-president and co-founder Adelyn Ayler said it is great to be able to teach people about a niche and important field.
Ayler, a third-year neuroscience student, founded GEMS alongside third-year BARSC-MD Michael Pitre in the fall of 2024. After finding a passion for emergency medicine and earning her Emergency Medical Technician certification in her senior year of high school, she wanted to help other students with their journeys in emergency medicine.
“It’s been wonderful to see how much students on campus have latched onto it and really fell in love with it,” Ayler said.
Exercise science student Clea Case talks to flight paramedic Eric Calhoun while sitting inside the helicopter on March 27, 2026, as part of the Gamecock Emergency Medical Students club meeting. The club was founded in the fall of 2024.
GEMS alternates between trauma and medicine-related topics at its monthly educational meetings. It also offers Standby EMT service opportunities for certified students to earn clinical hours, give back to the community and gain hands-on experience.
Last year, some members earned CPR and Stop the Bleed certifications. Stop the Bleed is a national program training bystanders to stop life-threatening bleeding.
“It’s one thing to read something and understand something in a book, and it’s a different thing to put it into practice in real life,” third-year biological sciences student Meda Zabielaite said.
Zabielaite, who planned the event, is the squad training lead in GEMS and an EMT at Richland County EMS. Coordinating the event involved lots of moving parts and organizations, she said. Campus Recreation, USCPD and LifeNet all helped in putting on the event.
“(We have) a lot of gratitude in terms of everyone who was able to make this happen,” Ayler said.
Zabielaite and Ayler will receive their EMT instructor certifications next month. They plan to run an EMT class together that will follow USC’s semester schedule.
Zabielaite said the instructional part of the class will be largely asynchronous, with weekly check-in sessions to review material. A few Saturdays a month, the class will host all-day events to practice hands-on skills.
One of GEMS' long-term goals is to have a campus-based EMS squad to serve the USC area, but in the meantime, the organization will continue to engage the community with events like these. Zabielaite said GEMS' transition from mainly giving lectures on general EMS knowledge to hosting engaging public events has been rewarding.
"I feel like this has been a pivoting point for us to be able to do more community-involved events," Zabielaite said. "The creation of this organization was made to give back to the community."