Re: State EMS Association

[Guest guest]

Bob has a very good point. I have always assumed that TAEMT went down the

tubes partly because it really didn't offer the one thing EMS personnel in

Texas needed, a professional organization that was willing and able to lobby

for necessary legislative change. In other words, it didn't offer us the

potential power to have a say in how our own profession was to be ordered

and regulated. I am sure there is much more to its demise than that, but I

know that was a factor. He is also right that one-trick-pony organizations

don't last either. What about EMSAT? Well here is why I haven't yet joined.

My first exposure to this organization was at a booth at the EMS conference

in 1997. That was when licensure was grinding its way through the rulemaking

process. This organization offered a position paper on the issue that I

found questionable for two reasons. First, many of the suppositions,

conclusions, and claims it made were wrong. It was obvious they were

personal opinions, not facts. Second, the grammar and spelling were very

poor. If a professional organization is going to represent me, whoever

publishes their materials is going to have to be literate.

The organization purports to stand for growth and improvement in EMS, yet

they were firmly in favor of grandfathering every fool that has managed to

hold onto a red patch for four years into licensure regardless of his or her

education level, a move anyone with a shred of common sense would recognize

as the one thing that would render the license meaningless. It seems that

every time this organization takes an official stand on some regulatory

issue, it is in favor of lower standards or reactionary moves. I have seen

not one position they have taken that would move EMS in a positive and

foward direction. Every stand taken would help to keep standards and wages

low for paramedics. These positions would probably make things easier for

EMS services, but would not benefit our profession or individual paramedics.

Now, I do not know personally any of the founding board members of this

organization and I don't want this to be construed as a personal attack on

any of them, I'm sure they are all fine people, but I believe the

organization was founded to represent the opinions of a small and

reactionary group who want things to stay as they've been, or even digress

back to the way they were ten or fifteen years ago. I have been told by a

reliable source who holds membership that the president of this organization

runs it as he sees fit and his views take first priority over everyone

else's. He went on to say the board is a collection of yes men who echo his

views. I hope this is not true. I would discount these allegations out of

hand were it not for the fact that this organization's positions so far

appear to me to support that opinion and appear to fly in the face of any

sense or logic, given their officially stated goals.

Gene Gandy has said more than once that the way to proceed is to join the

organization and help to reshape it in the directions it needs to go. I

would agree were it not for the positions with which this organization is

already associated and were it not for my concern that, assuming what I have

been told of the leadership is true, they will suffer no such changes. Most

of the stands they have taken are diametrically opposed to my own beliefs

about what needs to take place to improve EMS as a profession, to improve

the lot of our people, and to improve the quality of care rendered to our

citizens. Given all that, I for one cannot contemplate joining this

organization until the questions Bob has posed are clearly answered and

until the current leadership is gone and replaced with persons whose beliefs

about the direction EMS should go are a little more progressive and

forward-thinking. I sympathize with the difficulties of running such an

organization while trying to conduct one's professional and personal life,

but the founders took on this kharma when they chartered and began

soliciting members.

I call on you, sirs, answer these questions! Answer them clearly and

plainly. Then we can decide.

Dave

iginal Message -----

To: <egroups>

Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 10:02 AM

Subject: [texasems-L] State EMS Association

> There have been many postings concerning the creation of a " new " EMS

> association in Texas. Still others recommend membership in EMSAT as an

> experiment worthy of a $35.00 investment. The questions are:

>

> 1. What are the goals of the association?

> 2. What is/are the targeted membership constituency(s)?

> 3. What are the programmatic objectives, scope of work and timelines?

> 4. Who (membership) is designated to accomplish #3 above?

> 5. Where's the budget?

> 6. How are dues dollars prioritised and allocated to program areas?

> 7. What mechanism exists to report activities, accomplishments

> and fiscal accountability to the membership?

> 8. What means are employed to sustain the association beyond its

> initial membership drive?

> 9. What do members get for their dues dollars?

> 10. What are the core beliefs and values promoted by the association

> that differentiate it from those of other associations?

>

> It seems as though answers to the questions above are never

> forth-coming. We need to ask why the Texas affiliate of NAEMT ultimately

> failed. We should closely examine the needs-benefits tar pit that has

> claimed the lives of so many other EMS associations.

>

> Perhaps the single biggest mistake in forming an association centers on

> the belief that a single issue, proposed rule or occupational threat

> warrents the formation of an association. Once the founding " issue " is

> mitigated, what does the association do now? Are there common threads of

> beliefs that can be be identified throughout the fabric of the

> membership, beyond the belief that we all want to be in a club?

>

> What happened to TAEMT? Has anyone spoken to their past leadership to

> determine why they failed? Didn't they purport to exist for the very

> same reasons being posted on this list-serve?

>

> I get the impression that EMSAT exists for the purpose of political

> action. If so, what's the political agenda? What are the positions

> promoted by EMSAT, relative to that agenda? Do those positions reflect

> the opinions of EMSAT's membership and potential membership? Without

> knowing the answers to these questions, how does one decide to invest in

> the association (dues and/or volunteer time)?

>

> Joining any association on the " take a chance " or " it's the only game in

> town " principles seems foolish to me. If you believe in the STATED

> ACTIVITIES and LONG-RANGE OBJECTIVES of an association, then by all

> means join. Absent that, buy lottery tickets.

>

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