When the job's too big for MERT, who else you gonna call?

The wail of sirens and the yelp of an air horn break the silence of the night air.Far off in the distance, the road becomes illuminated with red and blue lights as an Allegany Fire Company ambulance makes its way to the main entrance of St. Bonaventure University. On board, an emergency medical services crew prepares to treat a student who had too much to drink.

Once the ambulance arrives on location, the EMT proceeds into the building and encounters a resident assistant, residence director, two security guards and the patient. He or she is given a brief report of the patient's current condition by the university's Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) EMT.

This is a typical emergency call received by Tim Hite, a critical-care EMT with the Allegany Fire Department Rescue Squad.

"We treat every call as a true emergency, and once we know what is going on, we begin our own assessment," Hite said.

According to Hite, assessment depends on the patient's overall mental status.

"We will both give the patient oxygen and monitor their vital signs, or we will use medications in order to help them," he said. "It all really lies in the severity of the situation."

Once Allegany Rescue transports the patient to Olean General Hospital (OGH), the nearest hospital to campus, patient care is handed over to nurses and doctors.

John Policastro, director of community relations at the hospital, explained the routine treatment for alcohol emergencies.

"The goal of the emergency department is to treat the patient in whatever condition they are in upon arrival," he said.

According to Policastro, the emergency room averages about 40,000 visits in a year for the total coverage area of the hospital, which includes most of Cattaraugus County.

Although some injuries may be alcohol related, they are handled according to the injury, not the cause.

"If a person comes in with a broken arm secondary to consuming alcohol, then we are going to treat the broken arm and classify that person as having a broken arm and not as being an alcohol emergency," he said. "Injuries are our top priority."

However, according to Dr. Henri Lamothe, Cattaraugus County Medical Director, the hospital tries not to resort to pumping the stomach for the consumption of alcohol, as the tube that would be inserted into the airway would irritate the lining of the stomach.

"Pumping the stomach is not recommended by poison control, but we will resort to this method if there is an obvious combination of drugs and alcohol in the system," Lamothe said.

"Students who come into the emergency department with a 1.0 blood alcohol content level in their system will be kept under intense medical watch as we monitor their vitals, draw blood, and establish an IV. Once their BAC drops under 1.0, we will then administer further medical treatment," Lamothe said.

Policastro said OGH is the only hospital in the area that is staffed around the clock with physicians specializing in areas such as pulmonary, cardiovascular and respiratory treatments.

"With all these levels of care, we are able to get the patient the medical attention that they need from a wide range of resources," he said.

He said alcohol-related treatment uses a tremendous amount of these medical resources.

"We treat every patient with the same level of care, but we are utilizing a bed, as well as other healthcare utilities, that would normally be used on more critical patients, rather than people suffering from 'illnesses of choice,'" he said.

Hite said students at the university should consider themselves fortunate.

"Bonaventure students are only about five minutes from the hospital, whereas some universities have up to a 20-minute transportation time to get medical attention," he said.

Hite also commended the efforts of EMS providers.

"People do not realize the amount of time that we put into our jobs. It's not like we do this just to pass the time," he said. "Instead, we do this because we enjoy helping people.