EMeRG may be closer to utilizing an ambulance the University Police Department purchased last summer after years of lobbying.

“The use of the ambulance is still in the final assessment by the University’s Office of Risk Management,” said Robert Chernak, senior vice president for Student and Academic Support Services, who oversees UPD. “I suspect that within the next two or three weeks a meeting will be scheduled to discuss the pros and cons of (its) use.”

Chernak also said the University will consider several factors when making its final decision about the student emergency response team’s eligibility to utilize the ambulance. These factors include government and medical regulations, liability, costs, logistics and long-term sustainability of servicing the vehicle, among others, The Hatchet reported in September.

EMeRG now uses converted SUVs to transport GW students in need of medical attention.

EMeRG Public Relations Supervisor Harland Westgate, a law student, said he is hopeful that EMeRG will be able to start using the ambulance soon.

“We’re still waiting for final approval, (but) we’re still optimistic that the administration will recognize our skill and dedication by putting an EMeRG ambulance in service,” Westgate wrote in an e-mail.

The ambulance is parked in a lot at GW’s Virginia Campus located in Loudon County, where it has been parked since at least last September, according to staff at the campus.

In the past, while lobbying for an ambulance, EMeRG officials said they were frustrated about bureaucratic roadblocks from the University about getting the ambulance. Now that the University has purchased a vehicle, students are waiting for University permission to use it.