During the late 1970's, concerns began to surface regarding the response time and training levels of emergency medical crews from the St. Louis metro region. As a result, in the fall of 1979, a group of students, faculty and administrators formed a student-run, volunteer medical squad that would be on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the entire Washington University community. With the wisdom, support and guidance of supporters, most notably Dr. Mary L. Parker, former Director of Health Services and co-founders Terry Chazan and David Levy, SHOUT was born. SHOUT (Students Helping OUT), as the group was first named, consisted of twenty students and staff with varying amounts of emergency medical training. They were dispatched via University Police using "voice pagers," and responded in a glorified golf cart known as 'The Cushman.' They equipped themselves with trauma kits, oxygen tanks, splints and ice packs, in addition to starting annual disaster training and providing "special coverage" crews for large campus events.

During the 1980s, the team moved up on campus, turning in the Cushman for the infamous Subaru Brat, followed by the Jimmy, the Cherokee, and our current Ford Explorer. The university gave us an office in the early 1980s in Dauten, and the team roster increased from the high 20's to the current level of approximately 45. In 1999, we moved into our new office in the newly-built Lien dorm.Since the early 1990s, EST has continued to earn and retain the trust of the campus and seen a resulting rise in the number of calls.