EMS Diversity and inclusion

Kavsuvb

Kavsuvb

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I have a question for ya, how does your EMS service handle Diversity and inclusion issues. I know in the US Coast Guard and as a Diversity officer myself, Diversity and inclusion is a HUGE issue and a drive to make the US Coast Guard the most diverse and inclusive Military branch. I am wondering how does the EMS handle Diversity and Inclusion issues and does your dept make diversity and inclusion an issue and a priority to making EMS a diverse and inclusive profession. Does your EMS dept try to recruit and retain those from diverse communities that you serve and what do ya do to try to attract those that doesn't see EMS as a profession.
 
What does your question mean? Are you asking if we target hiring of people of certain ethnic backgrounds? I've never understood that logic. We hire the most qualified applicants without consideration to things that don't matter.
 
NPO said:
What does your question mean? Are you asking if we target hiring of people of certain ethnic backgrounds? I've never understood that logic. We hire the most qualified applicants without consideration to things that don't matter.
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What I am trying to ask is how Diverse and inclusive is the EMS. It's something like this
 
There isn’t much anyone can do to change the minds of those that don’t see EMS as a profession, regardless of race of gender. Honestly, at this point who could blame them?

I’m not aware of any EMS agency that actively promotes inclusion and diversity in a campaign-styled format like the video that you have posted. I don’t think that there’s really a need to. Civilian agencies goals may not be parallel to the Armed Forces’ recruitment agendas.

I think, having come from an “ethnically diverse background” myself, my presence alone, and where I am with it career-wise is proof enough for those with similar backgrounds that anyone can live what it is they want to; EMS or not.
 
In my area in SoCal we have a huge mix of people. We have all sorts of different races: white, black, Mexican, Asian, Native American, Hawaiian, and many many more.

Due to where my company is located we cover a huge population of the LGBTQ+ community and at any point in time we have at least one crew member who is an active member in the community.
 
As far as I am aware we don't go out of our way to seek any specific people out. You apply, you qualify, you get hired. As far as I care, anything else is irrelevant.
 
Kavsuvb said:
What I am trying to ask is how Diverse and inclusive is the EMS. It's something like this
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you know, in that picture, all those officer are white men.... kinda kills the whole idea that they are a diverse bunch....

While I think having a diverse staff is important, I am against lowering standards in the name of diversity. Also, the phrase "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" comes to mind: you can spend all this time and energy recruiting, and going places, and handing out applications, but 1) you can't force people to fill them out and submit them 2) you can't force people to do well in EMT/Paramedic school and 3) everyone applied for the job or agency because they wanted to, not because someone else wanted them to; wouldn't you rather have a staff who took the initiative to make the first step on their own, not one who was begged by a recruiter to apply to make the agency more diverse?
Kavsuvb said:
does your dept make diversity and inclusion an issue and a priority to making EMS a diverse and inclusive profession.
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quite simply, no. our priority is getting the best of the best, because that's what our citizens deserve. bonus points if they are a diverse bunch, but would you want your loved one treated by a "diversity" hire who wouldn't have been hired if he was a white male? or rather, a "diversity hire" who wasn't the best of the best, so your loved one didn't get treated by the best of the best?
Kavsuvb said:
Does your EMS dept try to recruit and retain those from diverse communities that you serve and what do ya do to try to attract those that doesn't see EMS as a profession.
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absolutely. My county EMS has applicants both locally and from all parts of the US. anyone in our county is more than welcome to apply. The county does a decent amount of PR and outreach, but if they don't see EMS as a profession, despite all we do, well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink.
 
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based on my observations, the agency tends to reflect the community. My BLS agency is in a predominately white upper class town. Guess what my employee make-up is? My ALS job is in a more diverse county and it shows in the staff. @DrParasite used to work in a NJ city and i know UH EMS has a pretty reflective staff.

But no, we do not target recruiting. I interview and hire the most qualified providers. Their race, sex, or other protected class has no bearing on their skills or ability as a provider
 
I work with people of several ethnicities, genders, orientations, and so on. I also work with some bigots, racists, homophobes, and so on.

We as a society tried for a long time to prevent the first from happening. It didnt work. Now we’re trying to prevent the second from happening. It isnt going to work. We’re all different and have different beliefs and we just have to accept that the guy standing next to us might not believe the same thing we do. As long as you keep it to yourself, you’re free to believe whatever you want.
 
Kavsuvb said:
...and what do ya do to try to attract those that doesn't see EMS as a profession.
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There's enough difficulty with managing those that do see EMS as a profession, let alone trying to attract folks that don't. An organic, non artificial development of "diversity" in any work place is the healthiest, most sustainable approach to an issue like this. Job fairs, guest presentations at high school, JC's, colleges/universites...whatever, with the intention of increasing awareness in all comers. Obviously, if some interested person's application or interest card is thrown into the trash because of race or creed, that's an altogether different issue. But targeting specific groups because of artificial social constructs is asking for trouble. Just is. Seen it played out too many times to count.
 
What I am trying to ask and gauge is how diverse and inclusive is the EMS profession. I am wondering how does your EMS agency push for Diversity and inclusion in the population and towns that you serve. Do you make it a point to hire those who live in the town or hire those who speak the language or know the culture of the city that you work in. What about Minority recruitment, does your agency try to show young minorities the EMS profession in schools and show them the potential as a EMS career in the future. I know outside of Major cities like Los Angeles, San francisco, San diego, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, you would see a huge amount of Diversity within the EMS professions in those major cities. Outside of them in the small towns and rural communities, Diversity and Inclusion is largely unheard of. It's why places like FDNY and Boston EMS can be very diverse and inclusive, but how come they can replicate the same thing in the suburbs and rural communities.
 
I'm in the SF Bay Area. I feel like if you have a pulse and the certs, you're hired!
 
Depends on where you are at. Down here where I live and used to work I was one of two Anglos and could speak Spanish. We had two females. Now where I work it's Hispanics, females, and some other Anglos. But the area needs that mix and all are there due to ability, not race, gender, or anything else. It's a mix that applies to the area without regard to sexual orientation, ethnic background, etc. A patient is a patient is a patient.
 
OP, I would tread lightly on this issue and thread; you’re stirring a heavy pot. Your question has already been answered by several EMS providers from all walks off life. There’s no need to reframe your question.

We’ve all given you answers that kind of circle back to the same thing. I don’t know that there is much more to be said regarding the thread topic. If you’re so fixated on ethnic inclusion, diversity and the like that’s fine. Clearly the majority of providers on this forum appear to be of the opposite opinion, i.e., they could care less so long as said provider is competent.

I think that in this day and age most agencies are colorblind enough with regards to an applicants personal life choices, or birthed ethnicity that the most qualified applicants are who it is you’re more than likely to encounter.

TLDR~ this topic is a non-issue in the overall day-to-day EMS world.
 
I will admit that the LAFD (Los Angeles Fire Department) has been doing recruiting at some of the major LGBTQ events that are held in my area. You can tell they are uncomfortable as heck wearing full uniforms while 90% of the people around you are wearing banana hammocks and making comments about how they like men in uniform hahaha
 
I think that "diversity" is such a moving target that it's difficult to quantify an agency's success with having a "diverse" workforce. I think it is admirable to have a workforce that mirrors the community it serves in many ways, but as soon as you start trying to quantify it (we have x% of this ethnicity, etc), the point is completely lost.
 
Kavsuvb said:
What I am trying to ask is how Diverse and inclusive is the EMS. It's something like this
Click to expand...

Forgive me, but this is a bureaucrat preserving and advancing his career in the US military. He is as interested in "diversity" as far as it will carry him professionally. I do not blame him in the least. He's not an admiral for nothing (even if it's just the Coast Guard). No one joins the military for purely charitable reasons. This is a primary focus of the military right now and has been for some time, but it is fundamentally flawed because it is artificial and we're paying a price in at least morale...
 
While we are at it, let's talk about woman in Special Forces..... Diversity
 
Our system strives to find the best clinicians and support staff that we can without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, et cetera. We have staff all the way from senior leadership down to house keeping from many different backgrounds, but this is because they are the best at what they do, not because of some artificial effort to drive diversity.

The vast majority of our EMS/Prehospital service line staff are white men and women from the US, but that is the makeup of the applicants.

You can have a higher income and more stable home life by working in the hospitals (whether it be as a EMT, Medic, RT, RN, NNP, or CNM) than in our CCT/HEMS services, so I'm not really sure if that says a good thing about our staff anyway. Very non-PC statement, but maybe our staff who demographically could be described as minorities that work in our hospitals are smarter for staying there?
 
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