Olympus pulls AD

[hugopreuss]

Just got word from a NEMSA steward that Olympus, after having been contacted by NEMSA officials yesterday, have agreed to pull the EMS portion of their new model camera ad campaign.

Hugo

[Dustdevil]

LMAO!!

O ye of little faith!

[JPINFV]

:cheers: :wav:

[PRPGfirerescuetech]

I guess this is the first time you've tangibly presented something that NEMSA accomplished Hugo?

[hugopreuss]

No offense was meant when I let some steam off the other day and I have apologized for that (new post today, NEMSA wins in Oregon). After more than a decade in this business as a provider and educator, I can with certainty say that one, not much has changed (regarding the much hailed managed care concept). Two, our old union was nowhere to be seen. Three, NEMSA is being responsive to the membership (we never had that before). Four, In our community alone, NEMSA has begun to provide visibility (parades, sponsorship of youth programs,etc) and has begun an aggressive organizing campaign to where three out of four EMS providers in our local market are now unionized, whereas IAEP or SEIU never even made an attempt for over fifteen years. Calling on Olympus to pull the ad is part of that package. Grievances are now getting filed on time, arbitration's are being resolved, shop stewards have been doubled. Reps answer the phones, meetings are being held.

Frankly, that's not a bad start. Hey, some people don't like unions and that's fine. I for one don't like most unions either. If one are happy being an "at will employee" then I'm happy for them. With AMR, at least in this market, it's not a good idea, being an "at will". Maybe it is somewhere else. I'm not here to argue with you. I respect what you do for a living and I respect your opinions. Nothing will happen overnight. To us, NEMSA has brought results. I've participated in parades with my wife, who's a NEMSA member and was glad to see that the public had a chance to see EMT's and paramedics separate from fire. I've watched youngsters play soccer wearing NEMSA jerseys and being featured on the local news. When a single mom EMT was laid up in a hospital and had run out of PTO, could not pay rent on time and had no food in the fridge for her kids, a NEMSA rep came to her bedside, did a needs assessment and within three days, enough money was raised to pay her rent and stock the fridge. NEMSA had not yet even been voted in at that point. SEIU was aware of the employees circumstance as well, but never lifted a finger.

So far, NEMSA has been on track with what they have promised during their campaign. I don't think you can ask more than that. We all hope that NEMSA will continue to do so. If not, we can vote them out and get screwed by SEIU again. Until then, we'll give NEMSA a fair shot. Like I told Dust, I believe he's right on target when he says that professionalism is a personal choice. What we wanted from NEMSA was service and a voice. Pulling an ad that reflected bad on all of us is part of that.

Sincerely, Hugo

[Dustdevil]

I've participated in parades with my wife, who's a NEMSA member and was glad to see that the public had a chance to see EMT's and paramedics separate from fire.

Yet still dressed exactly like police or fire, I bet.

Chances are that nine out of ten people watching didn't have any idea who you were.

[hugopreuss]

Dear Dust,

Actually, No. We all wore NEMSA t-shirts and carried huge NEMSA banners and this July fourth, we'll participate for the fourth time. However, it must be pointed out that during the first parade, spectators did think we were with the fire dept. After hollering that we were their local EMT's and paramedics, we got cheers from the crowds who in turn got "EMS" candy from us. During the last parade, we didn't have to tell them who we were. The crowds (police estimated between 20.000 to 30.000) cheered this time with " yea paramedics!". Ok, so they left the EMT's out but we're working on it. Pictures of the parade are available to view at www.nemsausa.org in the gallery section.

Hugo

[Dustdevil]

Sweet! Glad to hear that somebody took the image thing half way seriously!

That's a good sign! :thumbright:

[Asysin2leads]

Who the F is NEMSA? Isn't that the group for like people who's IQ is 8 billion? Oh wait, that's MENSA. No, aren't they the National Institue for Mental Health? No, that's NIMH. The Captain fo the Nautilus? No, that's Nemo. I could keep this up all night, lol.

[AnatomyChick]

I saw the ad for the first time last night... I have to tell you, it was somewhat disheartening to see EMS portrayed in that manner.... Ah well, looks like Olympus has taken care of the issue.