Momentum Award: Chris Faherty

Christopher Faherty, president of Eagle EMS and A&S ’13, has been riding ambulances for almost a third of his life. Growing up in Little Silver, New Jersey, he began volunteering in the local fire department at the age of 14 to fulfill his Confirmation class community service requirement, transitioned to Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and hasn’t looked back since.

“I remember my first EMS call when I wasn’t an EMT yet. I was sitting around with some friends and the pagers went off for a call to another town, and they convinced me to go along,” Faherty said. “A man had fallen off the curb and cut up his face. It was the middle of summer, and I had this gut instinct when I was getting off the rig that I was finally realizing what I was involved in. This guy is hurt, he’s disoriented, and at one point I had this instinctual thought, ‘Oh Jeez, someone should call 911.’ And then it hit me and I had this realization: ‘Oh. I am 911.’”

Although he was initially reluctant to join EMS because he didn’t want to deal with “blood and guts,” Faherty quickly realized the passion he had for the work. Now, he’s well-known in Little Silver for his work as an EMT.

“I’m the EMS guy,” Faherty said. “I go home and people call me Doc. I’m usually in the top five responding EMTs back home, even when I’m living up in Boston.”

When Faherty left for Boston in the fall of 2009, he joined Eagle EMS quickly, looking for a group of students that might be able to replicate the family atmosphere of his ambulance company back home.

At the time, Eagle EMS had a small closet in Maloney Hall for storage of basic equipment, and a relatively low membership. The organization provided basic coverage at football games, basketball games, and large-scale concerts. Faherty became involved in Eagle EMS with his friend Kevin Wickersham, current vice president of Eagle EMS and A&S ’13, and the two volunteered to organize the annual National Collegiate EMS Week.

Later in their freshman year, the director of operations at the time stepped down, and Faherty and Wickersham petitioned then-Eagle EMS president Katie Davis, BC ’10, with the idea of both of them serving as co-directors.

“We went to Katie, and after some convincing, she made us co-directors of operations,” Faherty said. “The semester went on, and at the end of the year, Katie went out on a limb and picked me as president over some very qualified people.”

Since being named president of Eagle EMS in the spring of 2010, Faherty has dedicated countless hours to the organization. As a result, Eagle EMS has exploded in size and scope, and has been recognized at both the national and University level.

“With two years of Chris’ leadership, we have increased our physical footprint in the form of a larger office space, larger budget, and now a vehicle, but we have also started to branch out in ways that couldn’t have been imagined three years ago,” Wickersham said.

“This is my second year as president and we’ve doubled, almost tripled in size,” Faherty said. “We cover almost every event on campus, we have a non-transporting Class 5 ambulance, we’re a private ambulance service, we teach hundreds of people CPR per year, we’re doing about 25 continuing education classes per year, three or four EMT classes per year, we have about 1 percent of Massachusetts EMTs working for us, we’ve gained significant recognition in the University, and we won a national collegiate EMS award last year.”

To Faherty, these many achievements are a testament to the hard work of all of the members of Eagle EMS. But his friends won’t let him get off so modestly.

“Chris is passionate about his work in EMS as well as all areas of his life, and does not accept anything less than the very best from himself,” said Gus Godley, Eagle EMS member services coordinator and A&S ’13. “Chris was the key player in Eagle EMS obtaining our ambulance this year, as well as key improvements to the office and equipment of Eagle EMS over the last two years.”

“I have an immense amount of respect for Chris’s leadership abilities and dedication to the organization, and am honored to have been able to work alongside him for the past several years,” Wickersham said.

Faherty often works with the BCPD and has developed strong relationships with officers throughout the organization. Officer Daniel Morris, who often works the weekend night shift, spoke highly of Faherty as a leader.