Are you Volunteer or Paid?

[resq330]

Being new here, I just wanted to get a feel for how many people were volunteer -vs- paid. With only being on here for one day, it seems like a lot of people are on the paid side of things.

I've stated this in a few places already but I've been a member (now a Life Member) of my local volunteer rescue squad for 13 years now. And I've been an EMT-B for roughly 7 years.

 

[reaper]

You can check the search area. I think this poll has been done recently.

 

[resq330]

You can check the search area. I think this poll has been done recently.

i saw one from back in 2005 and it looked like it was short lived.

 

[SA_Medic]

Started off as a volunteer, became paid and now I am both. Paid by my service and volunteering at another.

 

[WolfmanHarris]

Only paid EMS in this Province aside from the most remote areas served by EMR's who still receive pay, just not a lot. Those remote areas are then backed up by paid Paramedic land Ambulance or by Air depending on whether they're the sort of place you can drive to or have to take a train/fly.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

Being new here, I just wanted to get a feel for how many people were volunteer -vs- paid. With only being on here for one day, it seems like a lot of people are on the paid side of things.

Paid or volunteer Ambo? Fire? Rescue? Disaster Services? Other?

What aspect of EMS are you looking at? All various apects of EMS ranging from Ambo and Fire to Military and Tactical to Disaster Services and Rescue and Public Service to Private non-ambo facilities? or just the "EMS is only Ambo" side of things?

I will hold off on answering as I am no longer working ambo (currently... fingers crossed) but have my hand in several non-ambo related aspects of EMS.

 

[resq330]

Paid or volunteer Ambo? Fire? Rescue? Disaster Services? Other?

What aspect of EMS are you looking at? All various apects of EMS ranging from Ambo and Fire to Military and Tactical to Disaster Services and Rescue and Public Service to Private non-ambo facilities? or just the "EMS is only Ambo" side of things?

I will hold off on answering as I am no longer working ambo (currently... fingers crossed) but have my hand in several non-ambo related aspects of EMS.

My Bad...I was really referring to Rescue. But, since I didn't specify (and can't edit my post :huh then I guess that leaves it wide open

 

[WolfmanHarris]

Paid or volunteer Ambo? Fire? Rescue? Disaster Services? Other?

What aspect of EMS are you looking at? All various apects of EMS ranging from Ambo and Fire to Military and Tactical to Disaster Services and Rescue and Public Service to Private non-ambo facilities? or just the "EMS is only Ambo" side of things?

I will hold off on answering as I am no longer working ambo (currently... fingers crossed) but have my hand in several non-ambo related aspects of EMS.

Very good point, I assumed Ambulance. We don't have any fire-medics here and SAR is all done by the military, where their SAR techs are PCP's. The rest are first responder or EMR trained only.

 

[tydek07]

Volunteered as a basic for a year... went to medic school, now working at a paid service.

 

[downunderwunda]

If we want EMS to be a genuine profession there is no place for volly organisations.

End of story

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

If we want EMS to be a genuine profession there is no place for volly organisations.

End of story

why can't "professional" EMS providers advance, and vollies keep providing first response?

 

[downunderwunda]

why can't "professional" EMS providers advance, and vollies keep providing first response?

If there is enough need for first responders, there is enough need for a paid service to cover the area.

The more reliance we, as a profession, place on First Responders, the less chance there is of expanding paid services.

Remove First Responders, take EMS from the Fire Brigade, make them look after their core business of fighting fires & lifting heavy things & allow us to have our own profession.

 

[eveningsky339]

Worked as a volunteer EMT-B for a year, now work per diem for the same company I volunteered for as a I continue my education.

If we want EMS to be a genuine profession there is no place for volly organisations.

End of story

I'm sure the people who voluntarily give up their free time to run 911 calls don't appreciate this blanket statement.

 

[scottyb]

If we want EMS to be a genuine profession there is no place for volly organisations.

End of story

Here we go again. Another fight coming. We get it, some paid guys despise the volly, and this volly thinks that those paid guys need to get off their high horse.

From a dedicated volunteer, stop bashing the volunteer. you are ousting a large percentage of the ems community. paid or volunteer, our goals are the same. There is something special about a group of people that get together to do something in their community without expecting a paycheck in return. Just thank us/them for the willingness to help and move on.

 

[downunderwunda]

Worked as a volunteer EMT-B for a year, now work per diem for the same company I volunteered for as a I continue my education.



I'm sure the people who voluntarily give up their free time to run 911 calls don't appreciate this blanket statement.

I am positive they dont. However, lets look at reality.

If you run a service on too many vollies, then this happens http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2009/s2615353.htm.

It is harder to regulate vollies.

I hear regularly that people want a 'career' in EMS, they want to make it their 'career' but how can they when there is an over reliance on vollies to pick up the slack so no one has to pay for it???????????

Force the mongrels to provide a proper serveice that is available for all, run by professionals & gives the option of a career.

 

[MrBrown]

70% of our workforce (ambulance) here is volunteer but they only cover about 20% of the workload.

I do not have a "problem" with volunteers per-se as they willingly give up thier free time or work time to respond to calls; same with the volunteer firefighters; I do like the firefighters, they are bloody fantastic when you need them to turn a car into a convertible.

The issue with volunteers is there will always be a "compromise" between the people who go and seek to make paramedicine a career, put in thier 3 years to get the Bachelors Degree and work up to ALS level and the volunteers who are unable to commit to the same level of education. It's not because they don't want to outright but becaue they have other lives, jobs, families etc and can't spent the time required to learn in-depth anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, cardiology etc. They tend to operate at a lower clinical competency level and generally have fewer patient encounters.

New Zealand is branching out to seperate qualifications between volunteer and paid staff; those who want to make it a career will be expected to complete a Bachelors Degree (3 years) and a Post Grad Certificate in Intensive Care Paramedicine (Advanced Life Support - 12 months). The volunteer ambulance officers will be expected to complete a post-secondary, community college style, in-house Diploma in Ambulance Practice which is generally run over 12 months part-time.

This course contains substantially less theory in anatomy and physiology, cardiology and pharmacology than the old Certificate in Ambulance qualification it replaced. We used to do 6 assignments and two block courses of 6 days in class based mainly around A&P and cardio etc then a large on-road session to put theory into practice and be signed off as competent. This content was argued (by the volunteers mostly) to be too "theoretical" and "not relevant when crewing an ambulance" so a good portion of the micro-level stuff was taken out.

There is a vast disparity between what the Bachelors Degree staff and what the volunteers learn both in terms of theory and practical; the Degree core content is based around the common first semester cirricula for nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists etc whereas what the volunteers get (while I am impressed with it) is still inadequate and at a level that is "achievable" for them.

The US doesn't seem to have this problem as the education standards are the same, volunteer or paid, and they are inadequate as it is.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

If you feel the need to hijack this thread and start another pointless vollie versus paid debate… check out these threads and knock it off here. No one wants it anymore; it is pointless. All you are doing is trying to start another fight. The OP had a question as to if you are vollie or paid. Answer that if you wish or don’t, but to quote FFEMT: “We don't need another paid vs. vollie debate.”

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=14473

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=9454

You will notice a common theme here… all debates that ensure in regards to vollie service (funny how in your mind EMS always means Ambo… never minding the vollie Fire Departments, SAR Teams, and Disaster Relief Services that provide EMS, but not transport by ambulance, are also “bad”) get closed… KNOCK IT OFF…

--------------------------------------------

To the OP… my EMS highlights:

Was paid Ambulance EMT (trying to get back on after several years off)

Was paid Correctional Facility EMT

Am a Paid EMT Supervisor at a local Winter Recreational Facility

Am the Volunteer Medical Unit Leader for a High Sierra Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team… of course, this makes me a bad person because I provide wilderness medical care and rescue for free… so, based entirely on some posts here on the forums, I will be quitting soon and I am encouraging the Volunteer SAR Rescuers that make up 98% of SAR in the United States to do the same… All those tens of thousands of people we rescue (collectively in Wilderness EMS) every yearswill just have to... well... die...

 

[medichopeful]

As of now, I'm a volunteer with my college campus EMS system. However, there is talk of us becoming paid.

When I get out of college, though, I will be going paid ASAP.

 

[atropine]

Iam $$$$$$ defintley paid, don't give weight in gold for free, dude really are still playing ricky rescue in this country, oh waite we are still using system status so I guess it all adds up.

 

[SES4]

Both.

Where I work is paid where I live currently is volley.