Students have provided emergency medical care to the Johns Hopkins University since 1983. That year, the Homewood Campus First Aid Squad (FAS) serviced the campus during the hours of operation of the Student Health Center. For eleven years, the FAS operated in this fashion, until 1994 when the student volunteers decided to embrace a greater challenge by providing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

The First Aid Squad members retrained and became certified as American Red Cross First Responders in 1994, while reorganizing their operating procedures to prepare for 24/7 EMS coverage. In January of 1995, the FAS ceased to exist and the Hopkins Emergency Response Unit (HERU) paged into service for the first time. 

When HERU was organized, a sister organization was created to train new members in accordance with the American Red Cross First Responder curriculum. The Hopkins Emergency Response Teaching Unit (HERTU), staffed by students certified as American Red Cross Instructors, also provides recertification and continuing education for current members. HERU and HERTU comprise a parent organization, the Hopkins Emergency Response Organization (HERO), of which all participants of HERU and HERTU are members. 

HERO’s Board of Directors is comprised of the three top officials of HERU, the chair of HERTU, a Training Officer, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. Each officer serves a term of one year, from January to December, and is elected by the HERO membership. John McCoy was the first captain of HERU in 1995. In January of 2001, HERO reorganized and the chief official of HERU became the Operations Lieutenant. HERU Captains and Operations Lieutenants and their year of office are listed below: 

Since 1983, student EMS at Hopkins has had a close relationship to the Student Health Center and the Security Department. Today HERU’s relations to the Health & Wellness Center and Homewood Security are symbiotic. In 2004, HERO also began working closely with the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services Systems to become recognized as an official EMS organization in the state of Maryland. As of the spring of 2005, HERO is comprised of over fifty members, trains approximately thirty students per semester and over Intersession in CPR and Emergency Response, and responds to over 250 medical emergencies yearly.