I'm curious

fortsmithman

fortsmithman

Forum Deputy Chief
Messages
1,335
Reaction score
5
Points
38
With my service we are paid volunteers here's the breakdown
Emergency Vehicle Operator 12.50/hr
Emergency Medical Responder (equal to a us emt-b) 15.00/hr
Emergency Medical Technician 17.00/hr

That's paid when we go on an actual run.
by the way our EMT's are called primary care paramedics in other parts of canada except alberta.

So does this make my service vollie or paid. I would like to know from other vollies if you are paid for going on runs or do you get no pay.
 
I'd say a paid retained service, vol to me means no money
 
For the vollie service that I help, if we are on the schedule and get a call we get paid a flat call amount. If we are not on the schedule but assist, we don't get paid.

For the paid service, we get paid an hourly rate for the hours worked.

Don't know if that helps or not.
 
Paid! In my squad we don't get paid per hour but do collect tax money from the community! So we are volunteer because we don't get paid for the calls.
 
Hate to break it to you, but even if you are not recieving money per call or per hour, if you are recieveing some kind of monetary compensation, be it $5 for showing up you are PAID. Even if its collecting tax money. Volunteer means no compensation for your time.
 
Differing governing agencies. Therefore differing rules and regulations. Talk to your fellow countrymen, or Google it. I'm sure your EMS agencies have web sites with rules and regulations with definitions of what you guys truely are, and what you are not.

That being said, it sounds as if you guys get paid when on runs, otherwise you are at home and/or at your fulltime jobs. That implies to me "vollie" with perks, but I'm not Canadian. With regards to your country's rules and regulations, I don't know my *** from my elbow.

Good luck.
 
Paid on call volly.
 
you get called, show up, do work and receive money for it. theres no way thats not a paid service.

if you show up for work on a schedule and get paid whether your running calls or playing xbox, its paid.

if you only get paid for the time spent actually working and are not required to maintain readiness at a designated location, its paid on call.

if you are scheduled for a certain amount of time where you maintain readiness at a designated location, but are not paid for the time not actually working, it paid per call.

if you do not receive compensation for your services, its volunteer.

some people confuse a unifrom or equipment stipend with payment. this is sort of a grey area with most people circling up on the volunteer side since your not actaully being paid for your services just being reimbursed for the costs associated with being available to respond.
 
Actually, several volly departments in Alaska are paid for the amount of time they're on a call.

Yes, they are volunteer fire departments.
 
i think the spirit of this debate is more philosophical than literal. meaning whats really going on, not whats been on the corps patch for so long that nobody wants to change the letterhead.

its not complicated. if you're paid for your service, you're not a volunteer.

meriam webster:

–noun
1. a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking.
2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.


so those alskan departments may have been volunteers back in the day, but when they started paying people, they became a paid service. this would be one case where they just dont want to remove the volunteer from the corps name.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top