You are the minority, by far. It's quite a sweet deal that your municipal/county administration has going.
(Former volunteer here, too)
Advice on making our hometown rescue squad better..
- Thread starter Miss EMT
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You are the minority, by far. It's quite a sweet deal that your municipal/county administration has going.
(Former volunteer here, too)
Volunteer agencies that can't get volunteers anymore are going to die, and a paid system will be put in place as a result. I'm fairly sure every state's laws say you have to have EMS agencies responding to emergency calls, and within a reasonable distance. That's not the EMS agency's responsibility, it's the community's. If they don't want to help keep it free then they'll be forced to pay for it in taxes and higher transport bills.
Recruiting is going to be key. Push hard to get the community interested again. There's nothing wrong with telling them the truth, either. If they want it on the cheap, they need to help out. In terms of keeping the members you have from leaving all together, get them to do group things completely unrelated to EMS. Go to a ball game. Have a family picnic. Keep the cameraderie going. A tighter knit group will tend to resist falling apart all together.
Making the station a better place to stay or hang out would also be a positive step. If response times are hitting the 7 minute mark because of people taking their time to get there, mandate that they stay but give them the amenities of home. A bed, a tv, a game room of some kind, these things will tend to keep the members entertained while they're there. Also, do you have a specific uniform policy? This can be hard to push initially, but once it's in force it makes the members a bit more proud to be there.
You could also, as mentioned before, push whichever government board is in charge of you to offer pay-per-call. EMS in my area is combination FT/volly through the fire department, heavier on the volly, and they get paid $8.50 per hour they're on a call. It's not enough to live on, but it's better than getting nothing when you have other things to do.
There's nothing morally wrong for being reimbursed in this profession. Volunteers don't have to be unpaid to call themselves a volunteer. If you want to keep members, you have to have incentives other than riding in the ambulance. Threatening the community, in a passive-aggressive sort of way, is also going to help. They need to cough up a little now or cough up a lot later when the state comes down and starts mandating. Community based EMS is an amazing thing, especially in rural areas. Being forced to contract a private agency will only bring EMT's who may or may not care on a given night about Grandma May's breathing problems that are exacerbated by loneliness, but you as her neighbor wouldn't mind giving her the time.
Keep spirit, nothing's impossible. Going fully paid isn't the only option you have, but if it comes down to it, it's not the end of the world. Just try and keep whatever paid agency that comes from it staffed by the community.
Recruiting is going to be key. Push hard to get the community interested again. There's nothing wrong with telling them the truth, either. If they want it on the cheap, they need to help out. In terms of keeping the members you have from leaving all together, get them to do group things completely unrelated to EMS. Go to a ball game. Have a family picnic. Keep the cameraderie going. A tighter knit group will tend to resist falling apart all together.
Making the station a better place to stay or hang out would also be a positive step. If response times are hitting the 7 minute mark because of people taking their time to get there, mandate that they stay but give them the amenities of home. A bed, a tv, a game room of some kind, these things will tend to keep the members entertained while they're there. Also, do you have a specific uniform policy? This can be hard to push initially, but once it's in force it makes the members a bit more proud to be there.
You could also, as mentioned before, push whichever government board is in charge of you to offer pay-per-call. EMS in my area is combination FT/volly through the fire department, heavier on the volly, and they get paid $8.50 per hour they're on a call. It's not enough to live on, but it's better than getting nothing when you have other things to do.
There's nothing morally wrong for being reimbursed in this profession. Volunteers don't have to be unpaid to call themselves a volunteer. If you want to keep members, you have to have incentives other than riding in the ambulance. Threatening the community, in a passive-aggressive sort of way, is also going to help. They need to cough up a little now or cough up a lot later when the state comes down and starts mandating. Community based EMS is an amazing thing, especially in rural areas. Being forced to contract a private agency will only bring EMT's who may or may not care on a given night about Grandma May's breathing problems that are exacerbated by loneliness, but you as her neighbor wouldn't mind giving her the time.
Keep spirit, nothing's impossible. Going fully paid isn't the only option you have, but if it comes down to it, it's not the end of the world. Just try and keep whatever paid agency that comes from it staffed by the community.
OP
OP
Miss EMT
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Thank you all for the much need helpful advice. I have aquired some wonderful ideas from many of you and im not going to give up hope yet. I have a lot to work on and time can only tell how things are going to work out. Im going to keep on trying though. Thank you all!
In my town, the volunteers respond to calls in the evenings and on weekends, but a paid service handles calls during the weekdays. This had to happen becuase there weren't enough people available during the day to handle calls because they were at work. You might want to consider that. It would take the stress off having to find coverage during weekdays.
I've been wanting to volunteer at my local squad but their requirements are that we pull a 12 hour overnight shift once a week, which I can't do because of my work schedule. So I'm thinking I'll just take the EMT-B course on my own (meaning I'd be paying for it myself) and then look for a paid PT job afterwards. I don't know a lot of people who can afford to volunteer anymore. It's really too bad.
I've been wanting to volunteer at my local squad but their requirements are that we pull a 12 hour overnight shift once a week, which I can't do because of my work schedule. So I'm thinking I'll just take the EMT-B course on my own (meaning I'd be paying for it myself) and then look for a paid PT job afterwards. I don't know a lot of people who can afford to volunteer anymore. It's really too bad.
If I recall correctly, New York mandates municipalities to provide police and fire, but not EMS. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same in other states.
DrParasite
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With all due respect, 1 shift a week isn't too bad. it's all about time management.
As I used to tell people when I was in college, if you have to pull a 12 hour shift every tuesday (or whatever day), then do it. Put it into your schedule, and know that every night is free, except that one day, regardless of situation.
You work nights? so do I. I'm pretty sure you don't work 7 nights a week. Pick a night you don't work, and say that will be the night you want to ride with the ambulance. even if they are the dreaded weekend nights, which can hamper your social life.
BTW, most ambulance companies in NJ won't hire people without any experience. so you can pay for the course on your own, but without any EMS experience on an ambulance, you will find great difficulty finding a job.
and in NJ, there is no legal requirement to provide EMS coverage by the municipality.
resq330
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I find this to be a good topic and read through all the replies. I too volunteer for a "rescue squad" and agree to what DrParasite had to say about that.
Any new ideas or discussion? I agree that incentives could good thing to do. Problem is, some of our members think we shouldn't have to bribe people to come out and run calls.
Many are in the same boat
I can tell you from experience that you are not alone with this situation.
With the paid-per-call service I am with, we have the same problem. Our response times are not an issue, but morale is.
The people saying to "go paid", this is not always going to fix the problem. We are paid when we go out on calls and also if we are on standby at the station.
How much training do you do? Do you train on the same thing everytime? Sometimes you need to mix up training topics to keep people motivated.
If you have a low call volume, that can be another problem. People lose interest quickly if they are not active.
On the department I am with, we have 34 members. 4 of those are full-time, Monday-Friday. The rest are volunteer. When we get paged out for medical calls, we might have 4 people show up during the night. For fire calls, everyone wants to be a "hero" and show up.
I have tried to lead by example by showing up, staying positive, and trying to be there for any special events that needed coverage. All this does is make people think you are kissing butt.
It is hard to get a group back on track and I hate to say it, but you are in for some frustrating times and I hope you succeed.
I can tell you from experience that you are not alone with this situation.
With the paid-per-call service I am with, we have the same problem. Our response times are not an issue, but morale is.
The people saying to "go paid", this is not always going to fix the problem. We are paid when we go out on calls and also if we are on standby at the station.
How much training do you do? Do you train on the same thing everytime? Sometimes you need to mix up training topics to keep people motivated.
If you have a low call volume, that can be another problem. People lose interest quickly if they are not active.
On the department I am with, we have 34 members. 4 of those are full-time, Monday-Friday. The rest are volunteer. When we get paged out for medical calls, we might have 4 people show up during the night. For fire calls, everyone wants to be a "hero" and show up.
I have tried to lead by example by showing up, staying positive, and trying to be there for any special events that needed coverage. All this does is make people think you are kissing butt.
It is hard to get a group back on track and I hate to say it, but you are in for some frustrating times and I hope you succeed.
resq330
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I tried to toss around the idea of "Pay Per Call" but everyone seems to think you would lose your volunteer status. We run rescue only in my squad. Less than 80 members and ran around 1000 calls year.
Our Training, yes, most of the time it is the same old stuff.
I'm like you with the "Lead by Example" stuff....
TransportJockey
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Will someone tell me why it's so important to stay a volunteer squad? It really doesn't add anything. In fact it could very likely be one reason EMS isn't taken seriously.
DrParasite
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While I agree with you that sometimes staying volunteer doesn't add much (provided it has the call volume and funding to support a paid systems)
and yet, many people take firefighting and the fire departments seriously, and yet there are a lot of volunteer firefighters and volunteer fire departments.
a double standard maybe?
TransportJockey
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I should have rephrased that. Healthcare providers don't tend to take EMS too seriously. FDs generally classify as public safety, and that's a whole other ball game.
EDIT: And I should add that some vollie FDs DONT have a good rep or are not taken seriously. I've run into a few of those in rural NM
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I know you guys will pile on me for this, but I'm gonna type it anyway. Take your best shot. I no longer care because I'm done with it, barring some miracle before I start back in IT.
For the last seven months I have sat in class and around tables in restaurants listening to ...
* EMTs complain about staff who won't wake up and get on a truck.
* EMTs joke about not getting up to answer a call.
* EMTs complain about staff not coming in when paged from off-site.
* EMTs laugh about not answering pages while off-site.
* civilians laugh and joke about the appearance and demeanor of EMS staff.
* EMTs complain about inappropriate behavior among coworkers.
* other complaints from both civilians and EMTs about competence and education level of EMS.
* teachers complain about lack of motivation of EMT students and lackadaisical attendance.
* teachers and fellow students complain about juvenile disruptions in EMS classes as if it were Jr High.
If you want Nurses and Fire Fighters and LEOs to treat EMTs with respect, and as an equal, and if you want to be treated as a PROFESSIONAL then you have to BE professional in everything you do, from recruitment to public interaction to classroom behavior.
And this is a thorn in my side on a personal level because myself and at least one other person I know are sitting here with 10 - 20 years of solid professional work experience, a fresh EMT-B cert, a desire to serve and do something meaningful rather than just make a lot of money in an office. We really want to serve and we have demonstrated our motivation and provided references to attest to solid work ethics and professionalism in everything we do. And we can't even find a VOLUNTEER position. I don't know if it is our age or not being in the good old boy network or just not fitting in - and we are respectful and not arrogant and we know we are rank beginners and we act accordingly. I have no idea why we can't get a shot. But what I do know is that there are EMTs out there all over just like us who will give it 110% every single day, be a team player, never stop learning from the pros, and strive to increase the positive reputations of any service who would give us a chance. And we can't even get the courtesy of an email reply or a returned phone call.
I'll get off my cross now. I'm sure someone needs the wood. B)
TransportJockey
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Not gonna pile on ya for that. As far as I'm concerned that's 100% accurate.
Bullets
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I feel your pain brother. my squad is currently engaging in the old school, satin jacketed, short and sneakers First Aiders Vs New School, uniformed, at the building EMS professionals. When we first addressed the idea of a duty crew at night, it was a huge issue but they got over it. Same with uniforms. Now we are trying to work out some kind of daytime thing and they act like we are suggesting resurrecting Hitler. We want to copy the system a few other towns have. Our police dept hires EMT's to staff 1 truck monday to friday 6-6. Vollies back them up as 2nd due and night. The PD has the budget to pay the EMT's and maintain the rig, no one gets a bill, and we get speedy response time.
I recruit volunteers from other hobbies that are "action" sport, SCUBA divers, Skydivers, ect. Like it or not, EMS has elements of adrenaline junkie in it, so people in similar groups do well. Ive found Scuba divers make excellent EMS personnel
Phlipper, you're right that volunteer opportunities aren't always there, and that there are aspects of EMS that wouldn't measure up to many folks' views of professionalism.
You mentioned that you're headed back to IT. I spent many years doing that. When I started in EMS after 18 years in the corporate world, I was surprised to find more similarities than differences in personalities, principles, and politics. I suppose I had assumed that people in the essential services would be operating on some higher plane, and would be motivated strictly by nobler goals than in other occupations. When I realized that wasn't the case, I still felt that EMS was a target-rich environment for making a difference, one patient at a time.
I'm not sure what qualifies as "professional" anymore. I guess it has more to do with perception than rigid criteria. What's more important to me is that each of us can make little improvements in the way our occupations are perceived, every time we interact with a patient/customer. You can choose to do that in IT, EMS, neither, or both.
There must have been a reason you started EMT training. I bet that reason is still valid.
You mentioned that you're headed back to IT. I spent many years doing that. When I started in EMS after 18 years in the corporate world, I was surprised to find more similarities than differences in personalities, principles, and politics. I suppose I had assumed that people in the essential services would be operating on some higher plane, and would be motivated strictly by nobler goals than in other occupations. When I realized that wasn't the case, I still felt that EMS was a target-rich environment for making a difference, one patient at a time.
I'm not sure what qualifies as "professional" anymore. I guess it has more to do with perception than rigid criteria. What's more important to me is that each of us can make little improvements in the way our occupations are perceived, every time we interact with a patient/customer. You can choose to do that in IT, EMS, neither, or both.
There must have been a reason you started EMT training. I bet that reason is still valid.
Manic_Wombat
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I would second some of the other people saying hire paid staff. My FD has one paid driver on 24/7, but the rest of us are volunteers. That way, you can get the best of both worlds, you can shorten the response time of your rig, and continue allowing people to respond from home.
Thought I would pass along a comment I received this weekend from my shooting partner, who is a Federal Agent and is doing Con Ed in the same building as the EMS classes in his county (I may not have it quoted exactly):
"Every EMS station I've ever been inside of seemed like a bunch of kids running around playing 'EMT' while mom and dad are at the beach. Same thing in class ... these are twenty and thirty year old adults but you'd think you were still in junior high with these guys."
Right or wrong, this is often how we're perceived by our peers in public service. As I posted earlier, I've heard similar comments and quips for months now. Jabs about "fat-assed EMS" and "uneducated ambulance drivers" and whatnot. Remember, we earned this reputation. We (you) can also change it. But hanging motivational posters in the station saying things like "Professionalism Starts With You!" - while certainly true - isn't going to get it done.
"Every EMS station I've ever been inside of seemed like a bunch of kids running around playing 'EMT' while mom and dad are at the beach. Same thing in class ... these are twenty and thirty year old adults but you'd think you were still in junior high with these guys."
Right or wrong, this is often how we're perceived by our peers in public service. As I posted earlier, I've heard similar comments and quips for months now. Jabs about "fat-assed EMS" and "uneducated ambulance drivers" and whatnot. Remember, we earned this reputation. We (you) can also change it. But hanging motivational posters in the station saying things like "Professionalism Starts With You!" - while certainly true - isn't going to get it done.
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Didn't get to finish my post, had to run ...
Where I was going is that in my humble opinion, paid or unpaid should be irrelevant to whether or not a station is perceived as being squared away and staffed by competent professional healthcare providers. I'm kinda' thinking 'Should someone expect less of me as a volunteer?'. In twenty years of corporate slavedom, including management, I've never seen money motivate an employee to improve on anything if they were seriously fouled up already. They are either motivated and take pride in their work or they don't. Money and motivational posters and classes on professional standards and all that never got me very far as a manager. Staffing with people who are competent, motivated, and who really want to be there, and then providing the leadership they deserved was a successful formula every single time. Without fail. Is EMS so radically different that this wouldn't work? I ask seriously, because I don't know. All the other 'rules' and tricks of management may not apply.
Where I was going is that in my humble opinion, paid or unpaid should be irrelevant to whether or not a station is perceived as being squared away and staffed by competent professional healthcare providers. I'm kinda' thinking 'Should someone expect less of me as a volunteer?'. In twenty years of corporate slavedom, including management, I've never seen money motivate an employee to improve on anything if they were seriously fouled up already. They are either motivated and take pride in their work or they don't. Money and motivational posters and classes on professional standards and all that never got me very far as a manager. Staffing with people who are competent, motivated, and who really want to be there, and then providing the leadership they deserved was a successful formula every single time. Without fail. Is EMS so radically different that this wouldn't work? I ask seriously, because I don't know. All the other 'rules' and tricks of management may not apply.