Volunteer Agency Recruitment

M

mcrs41

Forum Probie
10
0
0
Does anyone have suggestions for recruiting new blood into a volunteeer system?
 
$$$$$$$$$$
 
I third that, pay them, a living wage.
 
With todays economy it is hard to ask people to give up time from a paid job to do free ambulance time. My advice is no matter how small and slow an area you serve is go paid. There is money to convert to a paid service if you dig into your communitys budget. Do away with holiday expenses such as lights, don't buy the council member a new car, etc. With a little effort it can be done and your community will benefit from having a properly staffed ambulance being able to respond quicker.
 
another vote for money. If not a wage, pay per call (making your system a paid on-call system...but you can still call it "volunteer"). I'd find it hard to believe you can't spare 40 or 60 (20ish each) bucks per call to pay your EMT's.

There are a couple of other threads on here about ideas to boost recruitment -but basically everything involves some sort of goodies for the EMT"s. I think money is the best goodie.
 
medic417 said:
With todays economy it is hard to ask people to give up time from a paid job to do free ambulance time. My advice is no matter how small and slow an area you serve is go paid. There is money to convert to a paid service if you dig into your communitys budget. Do away with holiday expenses such as lights, don't buy the council member a new car, etc. With a little effort it can be done and your community will benefit from having a properly staffed ambulance being able to respond quicker.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with what you have said. I am with a rural service that covers approximately 260 square miles of the county we are including 4 smaller towns in our service area. In the later 1990's we were running into personel and financial worries. In 1998 our solution was to form and ambulance district which allowed us to collect property tax money for funding the service. This has enabled the service to hire some full time personel including medic's and basics at a wage that is above the average wage for our living area. We still utilize volluteer's and pay them a per call wage, on call paid time and holiday pay. We also have fireman in the town's that we service for EVOC driver's and they are also paid a per call amount. We are in the very near future going to be hiring 2 more full time medic's. We are able to replace or purchase new equipment as needed without the financial worries that we had before. We are able to retain personel as well as there seem's to be more interest on the vollunteer side of the service since we have been paying. This may not work for every small service but has worked pretty well for our service for the past 10 years.
 
You have to identify your demographic. We needed more volunteers who were in the district 9-5 Mon - Fri. So we targeted the stay at home moms of school age kids. We are launching a series of classes on first aid in the community and advertising it at the school. A big stumbling block to volunteerism is the daunting experience of walking in the door alone that first day. Establishing your agency as a part of the community makes it more friendly and less intimidating.
 
My lil town is in the same boat as you. We have more than enough to cover the hours of 4p-7a, but the other times we have just two people and both are drivers with no emt skills. I am heading up the "PR" side of things now. Unsure where to start beings we need money AND people. I have set a "play date" with my kids friends moms who I know are SAH moms. Our town will pay half the cost of the emt class and small change per call. But my biggest selling point is helping your neighbors. With this being a town of only 1600 everyone knows everyone else. Holding fundraisers and getting the general public involved you will find that there are some out there willing to lend a hand.

Chances are we will end up with a bunch of "Glory Holes" but hopefully there will be one or two that will work great
 
offer up either money or red/blue/green light permits.

with money, you'll get the pros.

with lights, you'll get the whackers.

either serves your end goal of increasing numbers

(note tongue firmly in cheek)
 
Community of 1600 should have enough money to be a paid service. Sorry the community needs prioritys and christmas decorations should not be it.
 
medic417 said:
Community of 1600 should have enough money to be a paid service. Sorry the community needs prioritys and christmas decorations should not be it.
Click to expand...
How many EMS calls a year in a community of 1600?
 
Jon said:
How many EMS calls a year in a community of 1600?
Click to expand...

We do about a 100 and have fulltime 24/7 staffed. Paramedics paid $20 an hour.
 
Jon said:
How many EMS calls a year in a community of 1600?
Click to expand...

Under 200 calls a year and that includes fire response in my district.
 
I think for the day time you will have to offer some pay whether it be a stipend or hourly wage. Also offer free education and training for those that join. I would say a weekend cookout would with a open house would be good to let those who don't know what we EMT's do and a look into how we do it. Put all offers on the table here someone might bite
 
Jon said:
How many EMS calls a year in a community of 1600?
Click to expand...

We field about 250 calls a year. This year the town had to rob peter to pay us for our time. $5 in town and $7 out per call. They ended up paying rescue personel about 12000 total, then fire about half the amount as us. Crappy broke arse town. Oh well. Not in it for the $ thats what my hubby's for.
 
Our squad offers paid training. Members of the community who want to join & be trained to EMT-B, Paramedic (or any of the "in between" levels we have here in VA). I'm taking the Paramedic class right now on their dime in exchange for my service back to them! It's awesome! Our squad also pays for members' personal city vehicle fees & all uniforms.

Another local squad provides gift cards (Walmart, etc.) to those who complete their shifts as required...
 
I am not the expert on volunteer agencies, but in my limited experience, they are not very welcoming, more like a good ole boys club that does their best to restrict members.

You may just want to ask some non members if you look like an exclusive club to get their reaction. Remember you are seeking volunteers, not dedicated professionals. I like the open house idea, especially with a "feel good" kind of message. Partner up with some other agencies like schools or churches(or local religious affiliations) to get your message out.

Maybe even partner up with other local agencies.
 
I really think you need to go look deeply into the city/county financial records and you will find there is plenty of money to fund a properly staffed professional department. Do whats right for the patients that we are here to help.
 
medic417 said:
I really think you need to go look deeply into the city/county financial records and you will find there is plenty of money to fund a properly staffed professional department. Do whats right for the patients that we are here to help.
Click to expand...

Plenty of money, Yes. But we are not in charge of that money. We do what's right for the patients, convincing the town council that we don't need to spend thousands of dollars to cut down trees, but instead need to invest more money into the ems is another story.
So in a perfect world that would work.
Slightly offended that you may find our dept any less professional because we are not properly staffed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top