Higher Education Emergency Medical Preparedness Toolkit

A college or university campus is not a workplace, a school, or a venue. It is all three simultaneously - and most campus emergency plans are not built for that reality.

The Higher Education Campus Emergency Medical Preparedness Toolkit was developed by Penn Tactical Solutions to close the gap. It gives campus safety officers, risk managers, student affairs leadership, residence life staff, and athletic departments a unified framework for medical emergency preparedness across the full campus footprint - from residence halls and Greek houses to athletic venues, outdoor spaces, and large public events.

Most campuses have emergency procedures. The problem is that they are siloed. The athletic department has its protocols. Campus security has its protocols. Residence life has its protocols. A student who collapses in a residence hall at 2am triggers a different response than a student who collapses at a basketball game - and in most institutions, those two responses are not coordinated. This toolkit creates a single framework that works across all of them.

What's included - 7 documents:

Start Here - Campus risk profile, why higher education requires its own preparedness framework, and the five campus-specific scenarios that require dedicated planning: overnight cardiac arrest in a residence hall, overdose in a Greek house, cardiac arrest at a large event venue, sudden cardiac arrest in NCAA athletics, and mental health crisis requiring emergency evaluation.

Campus Self-Assessment - Building-by-building AED coverage audit, residence hall readiness checklist, personnel training currency review, and outdoor population gap analysis. Produces a prioritized corrective action log.

Campus Emergency Response Plan - Role assignments for campus security, RAs, athletic staff, and facilities personnel. Step-by-step response procedures for cardiac arrest, overdose, mental health crisis, and active threat. Includes the parallel 911/security dispatch protocol that reduces AED response time.

Equipment Standards - AED deployment standards based on response time, not square footage. Bleeding control kit specifications, naloxone staging for residence halls and security vehicles, and inspection log templates.

Athletic Program Protocols - NCAA-specific compliance framework (not PIAA). Emergency Action Plan requirements for every athletic venue, heat illness management with Cold Water Immersion protocol, sudden cardiac arrest response, and return-to-play standards under physician oversight.

Legal and Compliance Reference - Plain-language coverage of FERPA vs. HIPAA distinctions, the FERPA Health and Safety Emergency exception, Pennsylvania Act 139 Good Samaritan protections with student-specific provisions, OSHA applicability to campus employees, and NCAA institutional liability framework.

Training Matrix - Role-based training requirements for every campus personnel category. Tabletop scenarios built around campus-specific emergencies including a 2am residence hall cardiac arrest, a Greek house overdose, and a large-event multi-patient scenario.

Who it is for: Four-year colleges and universities, community colleges, professional and graduate schools, branch campuses, and institutions with NCAA athletic programs or residential Greek-letter organizations - public and private.

Available at no cost. Public Pennsylvania colleges and universities are COSTARS-eligible for equipment and training procurement without competitive bid. Private institutions may qualify through affiliation. Contact Penn Tactical Solutions at 267-270-2789 to confirm eligibility before your next budget cycle.