Hats off to volunteers

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Sasha said:
Had I waited a year or so, I would have been sponsored for Medic.
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My company handed me a check the day I told them I was interested in taking the class:)
 
EMTWintz said:
Well someone caring has to do it. That is why you are where you are and I choose to live in "Mayberry"
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You are absolutely correct, however I live in Florida, in the Orlando area to be exact. I will take our EMS system over yours any day. Why? Because our EMTs must obviously care more, because they paid to put themselves through school to work for 9/hr. (that was sarcasm)

Actually, I would prefer our EMS system over yours because nearly all 911 agencies in Florida are paid ALS services. Even in the boonies.
 
That's great, and if you can support that there, then great.

Other parts of the country need volunteers because they provide a better service in their area. And these volunteers will continue doing this service until either their area urbanizes, or disappears.

Volunteers have a place in the EMS system, and if you want to lower patient care in these places because you want to rape those customers of their hard earned money and deserving quick response, then so be it. If you can live with that, so be it. But those people deserve a volunteer service that cares, that's fast, is trained the same material as the paid guys, and is affordable. A paid service 30 minutes away can't do that in comparison to a volunteer service <5 minutes away. End of story.
 
Sasha said:
You are absolutely correct, however I live in Florida, in the Orlando area to be exact. I will take our EMS system over yours any day. Why? Because our EMTs must obviously care more, because they paid to put themselves through school to work for 9/hr. (that was sarcasm)

Actually, I would prefer our EMS system over yours because nearly all 911 agencies in Florida are paid ALS services. Even in the boonies.
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Oh you care because you paid money to go into EMS to work 9 hr a day. Well us vollies work a full time job, get home to start spending time with our families, get a call in the middle of supper. Do we complain? No. Unlike working your 9hr. Do you get interupted while you are with your family? BTW good for your FL ALS. We do it for the love of the profession and the thanks we get for saving a life, not the money.
 
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A well trained volunteer can save a life the same as a well trained paid EMS personel if we learned what we were supposed to have in class and were certified. Then we both have the same capabilites that the other one has so stop arguing as to which one is the best. Yes, I am a volunteer right now; however, when I finish my paramedic school I already have a job offer waiting for me from an ambulance service that has seen my volunteer work. So therefore not all volunteers must be bad.
 
the cl's must be having a day off or something.

as expected, this turned into a paid v. vollie thing in .2sec but they still havent locked it up.

the cls are slacking.......
 
KEVD18 said:
the cl's must be having a day off or something.

as expected, this turned into a paid v. vollie thing in .2sec but they still havent locked it up.

the cls are slacking.......
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you have my word. IM done with this one. No one group is better than another. It is all what works best for the county. Cuz in the end, there will still be VOLLIES running around playin' Randy and Rhonda Rescuer. Paid or unpaid.
 
EMTWintz said:
Oh you care because you paid money to go into EMS to work 9 hr a day.
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No, I care because I care. Not because I paid to go to school, not because I get paid a crappy wage. I care because I just care. Being paid does not mean I care any less. Your argument that you care more is BS. If there was an opprotunity at a paid service chances are you would take it in a heart beat. But then that would make you compassionless, wouldnt it?
BTW good for your FL ALS. We do it for the love of the profession and the thanks we get for saving a life, not the money
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So do I. I certainly dont do it for the money, because I could go down the street, walk in and get a job that pays more an hour at a fast food restauraunt. Yet I CHOSE to be in EMS.
 
i dont need your word on anything sir. believe me when i tell you i couldnt possibly care less. theres nothing i like better than a good debate(argument) but a new one. or at least a fresh outlook on an old one. this is so old that theres nothing new to be said. the vollies are always going to say they are better because they do it for free. the career guys are always going to say they are better becuase they are professional. and around and around we go. happens about once a month.

id be curious as to how many members here have been run off by just this one simple topic.

regardless, its a pointless argument. mainly because we'll all be part of the british empire again in a few years.....
 
Great, you chose paid EMS, then don't complain about wages.
 
KEVD18 said:
i dont need your word on anything sir. believe me when i tell you i couldnt possibly care less. theres nothing i like better than a good debate(argument) but a new one. or at least a fresh outlook on an old one. this is so old that theres nothing new to be said. the vollies are always going to say they are better because they do it for free. the career guys are always going to say they are better becuase they are professional. and around and around we go. happens about once a month.

id be curious as to how many members here have been run off by just this one simple topic.

regardless, its a pointless argument. mainly because we'll all be part of the british empire again in a few years.....
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Ma'am thank you. Crap I thought for sure we'd be going to the Aussies!!
 
ma'am???????????????????
 
Whoa Nellie!!!! Ya know folks, there is a middle ground here. It amazes me how those of us who deal in Patient Care, one of the most subjective, non-black and white, tons of gray area, lines of work that there is in the universe and take these polarized views of EMS.

Why does it have to be ..... "ALL VOLLIES ARE A DETRIMENT TO EMS"... or "VOLLIES ARE ALL SAINTS"

There are vollie departments out there that are a disgrace and the fact that they are staffed with well meaning people who really want to make a difference doesn't amount to a hill of beans when their care is sub-par. There are departments out there who's administration uses volunteers as a way of augmenting their personnel numbers so their safety stats look better, because they have X number of responding personnel per thousand of population. Even though the numbers don't accurately reflect the availability of those responders or speak to their experience level or training.

There are also some amazing vollie departments who are providing high levels of care and who's standards are high in initial training, CME and in the standards of care they give. There are communities where there is no option other than volunteer response. There are communities that are laying off EMS personnel and shutting down private ambulance systems, laying off firefighter, cops and medics because they can't afford the gas, employment taxes and salaries.

We have often trained EMTs in our department and watched them leave for high paying jobs in civil departments with the training the district paid for. Not one of them has stayed more than 2 years in this area because the more urban areas need medics and will pay them to come work. As young people starting out on their own, or beginning families, good for them. I'm comfortable having spent my tax dollars to provide a family with the ability to earn a living wage even if I personally only reap the benefits for a couple of years in my department.

The reality of this is that my department becomes a collection of us 'old dogs' trying to keep abreast of the 'new tricks'. I would dearly love for my department to be a paid department. But the economic reality of my demographic is that I probably won't see it in my lifetime without some form of socialized medicine or a drastic revision of the juristictional boundaries of my home.

So, when someone here posts about some vollie department that just absolutely sucks.. why take it personally? If someone posts about a vollie department that's doing a good thing.. why attack them and use it as an opportunity to vent your spleen about vollies in general.

Can't we direct our comments to the individual department, action or event that has caused our displeasure? Why make it global? EMS is changing. I for one agree that the change is needed. But I also don't have a lot of faith in a governmental agency's ability to make those revisions in a way that is going to best serve us all.

BE A PART OF THE PROCESS FOLKS!!!!!!!
 
sorry, read that the wrong way round. thought you were calling me ma'am. mea culpa, mea culpa...
 
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