Volunteer EMS

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BHammond1

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Hey all, this is my first time posting but I've stalked the board for a while now. In any case, I had a question to ask. I'm not in the EMS field myself, but I've been interested for most of my life and I plan on trying to get into the field as soon as I graduate university.

I'm not really sure if I want to have a full-time EMS job right now, so I've been looking into volunteer departments across the USA. I stumbled upon Maryland's Montgomery County volunteer departments, which at this moment seem to me to be a great deal--bunch of departments in the area, they pay for your training and equipment, some offer live-in programs, etc.

The thing is, though, I wonder if Montgomery County is the exception that proves the rule, and they just have that many (seemingly) capable volunteer departments because they're only a few dozen miles north of DC. Does anyone else know of anywhere in the US that has similar clumpings of volunteer departments, or at least one that anyone can recommend that's near an urban area?

Oh, and while I'm at it ... any advice you'd be willing to toss out to someone considering the EMS / emergency management field?
 
BHammond1 said:
I'm not really sure if I want to have a full-time EMS job right now, so I've been looking into volunteer departments across the USA.
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You should volunteer where you reside. That would be best.
 
Welcome to EMTLife!

I've lived in four major areas in the U.S., and each has had many volunteer fire departments. I don't think you'll find a shortage of volunteer departments in the U.S., but some may not include EMS.

I would first find where I wanted to live, and then search around for agencies. You'll soon realize that it makes sense to serve in a community near you live. It makes responding to calls, attending meetings, and last minute errands a lot easier and quicker.

You'll find that while there are urban volunteer fire departments and EMS services, usually those areas are served by public or private EMS agencies. An urban population generally means that there are enough people to ensure call volume, and meet the financial needs of a paid service.

Good luck on your search!
 
Volunteering in the community in which you live is the best idea out there. I live on a "small" Air Force base and volunteer in the very small town(4 police cars small). When tones drop and I run code 3 from my house on base to the station in town I typically miss the trucks and respond directly to the scene via POV.
 
firecoins said:
You should volunteer where you reside. That would be best.
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I would volunteer where I reside, but I will be graduating from university soon and will most likely be moving to at least another city, if not across state lines. I don't have anything tying me down at the moment, so I thought I'd see if anyone had any comments or suggestions. I'll be involved in the AmeriCorps program for a few years after I graduate, so looking through and plumbing others' knowledge in regards to volunteer departments sounded like a good idea, especially for ones that offer live-in programs. I'd be living on a volunteer's salary (is that an oxymoron?), so I thought that that could be a great idea to keep costs down and pursue an interest. Not to sound like a broken record, but I was particularly interested to see if anyone had any knowledge of places like Montgomery County, MD, where it looks like they have a large amount of volunteer fire/EMS departments condensed into one region.
 
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Again, I really think that you'd be surprised at how many volunteer fire departments there are around. I like in a suburban area served by a very progressive public EMS agency, and public FD, yet there are about 10 fire departments in the area. Last year, when I was in a small town, there were three volunteer fire departments.

I'd first try to find a job in an area you'd like, and then start investigating volunteer opportunities.
 
Depends on where you live, also.

Greter Los Angeles and Greter Sacramento areas have few volunteer depts now, in fact fewer all the time. Many little communities are being swallowed up by bigger ones. The ones in the Sierran foothills and the mountains all over tend to be quite small, not many ways to make a living there, and depend upon State and Federal firefighters to respond when things get out of hand. Go local!

Remember, just because you "learn EMS" doesn't mean you have to make it your living, any skill set is good to know as long as you are "mindful" of its limitations. Even if you "work ambulance", or as a lifeguard or whatever, for a relatively short time, you will have an opportunity to pick up "people skills" , meet rare individuals, and see sides of life you cannot in any other profession...except maybe law enforcement, or watching reality TV....
 
i have never heard of a volunteer EMS company around here doing anything like paying for your class and doing a live in program...but there are a ton of Volley fire departments that do it even in the boonies.
 
Hey buddy,

I actually volunteer in the county next to montgomery county, md.

I live in va beach now but I am still an associate member at my md. station and actually lived at the firehouse last year.

Shoot me an email at **email address removed** and feel free to ask any questions.

The county I volunteer in, Prince Georges County does pay for your training and does have live-in programs. We also run allot of cars. I ran close to 1000 calls last year.
I do have some contacts with volunteers in montgomery county.
These areas are well populated and you will run a good amount of calls. You will also run a good variety and depending on station location can get some really good trauma calls. If EMS is all you are wanting to do, allot of stations will be trying to get you to come to them. The volunteer firefighters tend to try to stay off the box as much as possible.
Just shoot me an e-mail and I can see what I can do to help you out.

Virginia Beach has a volunteer ems system. It seems to be going pretty strong. I know quite a few people who are in this system and am looking to join it in the future as well.
 
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Montgomery County Fire/EMS is actually a great place to volunteer. There are several stations you could volunteer at. I myself live in Silver Spring, I'm currently in the application process at the Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad. At this point I'm just awaiting my interview.

I know a whole lot of people who volunteers at different stations, especially the station down my street, the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Dept. There are plenty of opportunities, and they pay for your training. A few stations in the area do have a live-in program, I know for sure Burtonsville has it, and a few stations in Rockville and Kensington. If I could volunteer anywhere, it'd be Montgomery County.

By the way, where are you from BHammond1?
 
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hey twix,

I dont know the answer to this. Will Montgomery count pay for als certs too?

I know pg doesn't but balt. county will. They put out volunteer als units though where as pg medics are paid
 
FireResuce48 said:
hey twix,

I dont know the answer to this. Will Montgomery count pay for als certs too?

I know pg doesn't but balt. county will. They put out volunteer als units though where as pg medics are paid
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I really can't be too sure, but I remember reading somewhere that they do provide free training for EMT-B cert, and that after getting the certification its your choice if you decide to move on to ALS. They don't state whether its paid or not.
 
Twix623 said:
By the way, where are you from BHammond1?
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I'm from St. Louis. I'm finishing up my degree by next year, though, and like I said in my earlier post I don't have anything tying me down so I'm looking to move.

I'm glad to hear that about Montgomery County from both you and FireRescue. To be honest, I kind of fell upon Rockville's website and I slowly found many of the other departments' pages from there.

Thanks for the help everyone, and I'm glad that I started a decently-sized thread and got some wonderous responses. Oh, the wonder of the Internet! ^_^
 
Maryland has lots of Volunteer, Paid, and combination departments... each county is its own animal.

The paid staff are county employees, as are the regional chiefs. The volunteer stations have their cheifs as well... which makes everything more complicated

There aren't a lot of issues... but a certain PG County vollie department (not to name names or anything :)) gets in the news every few years for some sort of altercation with the county paid FF's on a call... fault is often found on both sides, and people get to take vacations from the FD's for a little while.


Anyway... a live in program might suit your needs. However... in many places you will be sharing sleeping quarters with others... and in all you will be sharing public areas. You will have minimum requirements for the number of nights you must be "in quarters" and ready to respond (read: not drunk). You might also have responsibility on one or more night to crew the ambulance... which means that you will probably run more calls.

In PG Maryland, 2 stations come to mind for live in's (but there are others)
Hyattsville, MD
Kentland, MD

There are companies in PA that do live-ins as well, including
Reiffton, PA - Outside of Reading
 
The only thing about Kentland is you will not being riding an ambulance. So if that is what you are mainly looking for, you won't get it. Kentlands ambulance is staffed 24/7 with career staff.

http://wlhvfd.com West Lanham Hills
48 has 2 engines and 2 ambos in station and always has at least 1 engine and 1 ambo in service. If more people are there, they put the additional apparatus in service.
Live in quarters do have divided rooms.
28 does not have any amulances in the station. They run a truck and engine and also a mini pumper that mostly responds to the medicals.

Most stations in pg have a live-in program as long as they are not all career stations, obviously. 3 stations are 100 percent volunteer. Most have career staffing during the weekday about 0700-1600. A few have career staffing 24 hours and even fewer are 100 percent career stations
 
Jango said:
Volunteering in the community in which you live is the best idea out there. I live on a "small" Air Force base and volunteer in the very small town(4 police cars small). When tones drop and I run code 3 from my house on base to the station in town I typically miss the trucks and respond directly to the scene via POV.
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Its FANTASTIC that the base Commander lets you do the public volunteer bit.
How do Security Forces at the gate react when they see you coming? As for running code 3 on base... do you have a blue light or what? How did SF react to that?
 
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