Culture in SBVAC
Concerns regarding the culture within SBVAC, particularly for probationary members, have also been raised. Echoing sentiments expressed in Katherine Martin’s op-ed, a former member who requested anonymity due to being a medical school applicant, described SBVAC as having a “frat-like” atmosphere, where recruits, or “probies,” face pressure and isolation if they struggle to meet expectations.
“The culture within the department for new members [was] particularly toxic when I was there and completely unlike anything I ever experienced elsewhere. I can only call it what it is, a fraternity that does EMS on the side,” he wrote to The Statesman.
Smith argues that SBVAC should not be compared to a frat.
“I think that the comparison to a frat is kind of silly because just like when you have any group of 18 to 22-year-olds they’re gonna have fun … but that wasn’t a priority, doing what we had to do came first above everything else,” Smith said.
The former member elaborated on the inequality between probies and senior members.
“Probies weren’t allowed to sit on the couches, [and senior members] were obsessed with [probies] having [their] binder on [them] at all times. Like if you stepped away to go to the bathroom they would take your binder, hide it or threaten to start ripping out all the sign offs you worked desperately for,” he wrote to The Statesman.
According to him, “sign offs” were a way of keeping track of completing EMT skills and practice sessions.
“Probies would have to stay at base and practice skills[;] we’d show an instructor a skill and if it was not done to complete perfection (variable what perfection was), we had to redo the skill and there was an hour cool off period between testing the same skill. So, getting these skill sign offs became an enormous effort that took away from our studies,” he wrote to The Statesman.
When the former member started noticing his grade point average (GPA) slipping, he tried explaining to the instructors that he was on a partial scholarship that had a specific GPA requirement. He recalled, “there was no support from the instructors,” during this difficult situation.
Ultimately, he was kicked out of the organization after prioritizing his academics.
“There was always this warning that once you were dropped from the program as a probie, that was it, [and senior members] were not supposed to associate with that person ever again,” he wrote. “The second I was not part of SBVAC, I was avoided on campus by all of them.”
SBVAC leaders did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In September 2023, SBVAC had about 60 active members and several adjunct members (alumni and staff members who are not active every week but can staff alarms if they choose to). They also have three active Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedics.
