Volunteer Standards

[Guest guest]

One thing that I think that is important to explain to volunteers is

that the majority of the population doesn't keep up with whether their

local EMS is volunteer, combination or fully paid. Heck, most normal

people couldn't even tell you the name of their local EMS service.

Because of this, it's important to explain to volunteers that when we,

as medics, step off of that truck and onto the scene -- we're EMS.

They're not going to say -- oh he's paid or he's volunteer. Because of

that, it is very important to look sharp, as far as uniforms are

concerned. If you show up to a scene in a t-shirt and daisy dukes, you

just made your entire department look bad -- be it combination,

volunteer or paid!!

As far as being on-time and calling in at the last minute, explaining

that such actions can negatively affect patient care/outcome may help.

Think about it -- showing up even just a few minutes late to a shift can

really affect a patient's outcome if your partner is waiting for you,

because you got dispatched 1 minute after shift change! (Because, you

know, that NEVER happens in EMS!)

I think just taking the time to explain WHY uniforms, promptness, etc

are important may help volunteers.

And last but not least (and this might sound rude, so I'm sorry), but if

their response is " What are you gonna do? Fire me? " and they are being

serious about it -- is this an individual you want on your truck

responding to 911 calls????

OK -- rant off. Sorry.

l1usma62 wrote:

>

> How do you keep volunteer responders up-to-standard? It is not the

> state certification I am asking about, but things like wearing the

> required uniform, being on time, reporting their non-availability for a

> shift a day in advance rather than at the last minute, etc. We would

> like to approach these challenges in a positive way, but a few of our

> volunteers seem unwilling to cooperate. Any ideas?

>

> Bob in McGregor, LP

>

>