Paid vs Volley or Volley vs Patient?

[triemal04]

Lauri- Like I said, and meant sincerely, that's very impressive for a place with 3 EMT's and only a couple hundred calls a year. Short staffed or otherwise, it sounds like your department is doing things right. Kudos for that.

I brought this up because your particular situation doesn't apply to all volunteer departments. (and obviously, before someone flips out, there are plenty of career departments that are...lacking...to put it mildly) There are plenty of volunteer departments (and I started with one) that have non-EMT's responding to calls, sometimes without any actual EMT's, that will say their "response time" is based on when some person (EMT or otherwise) pops up on the radio and says they are responding (from home without any equipment, and potentially not even to the station to get equipment), that do little if any real training and continuing education, have little if any real medical oversight, and so on. While there can be plenty of vaiability in how career departments act/staff/respond to calls, it's usually not as varied as volunteer departments are, especially in certain parts of the country.

That's why I asked the questions I did. Without knowing the specifics of your particular situation, all I, or anyone can do, is guess and make assumptions.

I would ask that you keep in mind that your department is not neccasarily a representative of the whole; while you might be well run, etc, that doesn't apply to all volunteer departments (and again, before someone flips out on a tantrum, the same goes for career departments), which is where problems pop up.

If you've been doing this for awhile and have been working on continuing your education, I'm sure you have come across various people (career and volunteer) who were...poor representations of their particular group. When that type of person is seen again, and again and again and again and again and again...that is where the ill-feelings and stereotypes come from. Which is only natural. It really becomes a problem when someone can't figure out, or find out enough info to decide for themselves, if a specific group falls into that category.

[ClutzyEMT]

If you've been doing this for awhile and have been working on continuing your education, I'm sure you have come across various people (career and volunteer) who were...poor representations of their particular group. When that type of person is seen again, and again and again and again and again and again...that is where the ill-feelings and stereotypes come from. Which is only natural. It really becomes a problem when someone can't figure out, or find out enough info to decide for themselves, if a specific group falls into that category.

The sad part out of your entire rational for your comment triemal04 is that "those poor representatives" are more often than not from a PAID service.

I'm not jumping in to the paid vs volley debate because it has been going on for decades and will continue to go on for decades to come.

Until community governments and leaders realize they cannot feed off the backs of a few dedicated people who provide lifesaving services in their area "for free," and until those few who are providing the "free" services realize that their community has enough money to pay for waste removal and other essential services, there will be volunteer EMS services across the nation and the "paid" vs "volley" debate will continue.........

One thing to remember tho, nothing is ever "free" in this world. Someone, whether it be the volunteer that never gets to lay down the pager and spend time with their family and eventually loses their family, or whether it be the paid EMT that had to respond to a call 38 miles away to a pediatric drowning in a town with no "local volunteer" services and no treatment being done who has to live with that call reverberating around in their head.....someone always sacrifices something....

[BushyFromOz]

"those poor representatives" are more often than not from a PAID service.

I interested, how is this statement supported?

[Just Plain Ruff]

One thing to remember tho, nothing is ever "free" in this world. Someone, whether it be the volunteer that never gets to lay down the pager and spend time with their family and eventually loses their family, or whether it be the paid EMT that had to respond to a call 38 miles away to a pediatric drowning in a town with no "local volunteer" services and no treatment being done who has to live with that call reverberating around in their head.....someone always sacrifices something....

WEll that's a shitty situation where there are no volunteer or paid services and that's the fault of the citizens of the community for not bucking up and either supporting a local volunteer squad or putting their taxes to good use and paying for a paid service, and to me not having EMS providers in that area when even volunteers will do it for free, is a shame and to me Sucks BIG DONKEY BALLS.

Clutzy, me thinks you might be talking about you as the paid EMT who responded to that drowning, and if so, that doubly sucks.

[Richard B the EMT]

I interested, how is this statement supported?

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Mark Twain.

Ever notice that the published survey always sees things in favor of whoever paid for the survey? Just sayin'.

[BushyFromOz]

Which survey would that be?

[Just Plain Ruff]

Which survey would that be?

The same survey that came out and said that common belief that you can't post anything that isn't true on da internetz.

[BushyFromOz]

The same survey that came out and said that common belief that you can't post anything that isn't true on da internetz.

Yep... went straight over the top of my head didn't it

[triemal04]

The sad part out of your entire rational for your comment triemal04 is that "those poor representatives" are more often than not from a PAID service.

That's rather odd...I've had the exact opposite experience. Seen a lot more whacker vollies that made me want to vomit than I have paid personell.

I'm not jumping in to the paid vs volley debate because it has been going on for decades and will continue to go on for decades to come.

Unfortunate, but a true fact of life.

Until community governments and leaders realize they cannot feed off the backs of a few dedicated people who provide lifesaving services in their area "for free," and until those few who are providing the "free" services realize that their community has enough money to pay for waste removal and other essential services, there will be volunteer EMS services across the nation and the "paid" vs "volley" debate will continue.........

There will, and the debate will continue for a lot of reasons. It is worth keeping in mind that there are some areas that do have a real need for volunteer departments. (that's based off how emergency services are funded and run, and by "some areas" I mean the truly rural places.)

One thing to remember tho, nothing is ever "free" in this world. Someone, whether it be the volunteer that never gets to lay down the pager and spend time with their family and eventually loses their family, or whether it be the paid EMT that had to respond to a call 38 miles away to a pediatric drowning in a town with no "local volunteer" services and no treatment being done who has to live with that call reverberating around in their head.....someone always sacrifices something....

Please don't try to play on emotions, on EITHER side of the issue.

Replies in red.

People's own experiences will often color what they think/believe and cause them to make assumptions depending on the person, and what those experiences were. It's just how things work. But that's the reason why it is important to ASK questions about an individual service to see if those assumptions based on your personal experience/opinions are right.