There have been several discussions that have carried on about the merits of volunteer fire and EMS providers, as well as the problems facing the department's ability to cover the needs of those they serve. There has even been some criticism of the dumbing down of the B level to ensure there are enough providers.
This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart as I am sure many of yours as well. There are no answers that are readily available. The rural areas that volunteers normally cover cannot afford to pay fulltime personnel. Even combination departments are stretched to make ends meet in all but the largest towns. People cannot afford large tax increases to fund more full time personnel. There is no guarantee that ambulance bills will be paid, and chasing after your friends and neighbors for payment or turning them over to collections for faliure to pay for services rendered in a traumatic/emergency situation is hard to swallow. In our state there are very few private providers, so they are wary of dedicating units to coverage of areas that may not be profitable.
We cannot force people to become volunteers, and if we did it would only backfire. Our department only has about 60% of its members certified as EMT's, even though several others are competent to do it, they just want "the fun stuff" and are not willing to commit to the training which is a minimum of 200 hours initially with additional for A+R and CE. There is no way to reduce the training, that is not an option.
I would like to hear realistic ideas on ways to fix this system (ways that don't involve long term funding on short term budgets). Please feel free to provide any links that are of legislation or departments that are having success. Also, if anybody has information on territory establishment, I would appreciate it.
This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart as I am sure many of yours as well. There are no answers that are readily available. The rural areas that volunteers normally cover cannot afford to pay fulltime personnel. Even combination departments are stretched to make ends meet in all but the largest towns. People cannot afford large tax increases to fund more full time personnel. There is no guarantee that ambulance bills will be paid, and chasing after your friends and neighbors for payment or turning them over to collections for faliure to pay for services rendered in a traumatic/emergency situation is hard to swallow. In our state there are very few private providers, so they are wary of dedicating units to coverage of areas that may not be profitable.
We cannot force people to become volunteers, and if we did it would only backfire. Our department only has about 60% of its members certified as EMT's, even though several others are competent to do it, they just want "the fun stuff" and are not willing to commit to the training which is a minimum of 200 hours initially with additional for A+R and CE. There is no way to reduce the training, that is not an option.
I would like to hear realistic ideas on ways to fix this system (ways that don't involve long term funding on short term budgets). Please feel free to provide any links that are of legislation or departments that are having success. Also, if anybody has information on territory establishment, I would appreciate it.
I mean itz targeted at the "net-generation" and they need to see that type of portrayal to get them hooked or at least get their attention. Honestly, I can tell from my own experience when I was in high school, fire and EMS was looked at as being nerdy and something all the dorks did... and yes I was a jr. firefighter. Something like this really changes that sentiment I think.