Does any one else work for a combo paid/volley dept?

[emergency grrl]

I would like to know your procedure for volunteers responding to calls? Some of our volunteers respond from home and us paid or volleys that stay at the station, are left waiting sometimes 5-8 min before we can respond. What does your dept do?

[emtkelley]

deleted

[Medic26]

We always have one paid crew in house, if a volunteer is running they come to the station for the allotted time of there shift. Of course if we get multiple calls people are responding from home but even then the truck is out in about 5 minutes or less, sometimes we meet along the way and pick up the additional crew when this happens. We had an MCI a few weeks ago and all 7 trucks were on the street in about 10 minutes.

[cotjockey]

Our paid firefighter/EMT responds from the station as soon as the page goes out. The volunteers respond from home to the scene. If there is a fire or MVA, we respond from home to the station so our engines, crash trucks, etc are manned.

[samiamstill]

We have a combo service, even with volunteers coming from home we have a three minute response time from page to en route. Our nearest hospital is at least 60 minutes away so time is precious to us.

[paramedicmike]

I have worked for several combination services. At each service the policy was if you weren't on duty at the station (or returning from the hospital in the ambulance etc...) when the call was dispatched you don't respond. There was no responding from home. There was no random showing up on scene. And it worked well. It saved a lot of stupid people on the road (responding vollies, that is. Not civilian drivers.).

[JakeEMTP]

I agree with Mike. When I'm not on duty, my pager stays off. I have no business responding from home as we have very capable people on shift, This is at a paid/volly service too. There is always 2 people minimum at the station so why would I need to have my pager on? Unless I had a whacker moment. :wink:

[emergency grrl]

Thanks everybody, you are very helpful.

[strippel]

I have done some part time and PRN work for smaller, mostly volunteer ambulances.

There were many times that the paid staff would stay in station, and the volunteer would be at home. Frequently, the vol tried staying at the building, but... they just had too many things to do.

Most of the time, it was either a paid crew of 2, or all volunteers from home. Even the volunteers thought if they were paying someone to be there, they might as well pay 2 people, and the truck (bus) could get out faster.

Our county requires a 6 minute response time, or you get covered. Paid crew obviously had to get out faster.

[MrsRankin0510]

I work for an all volunteer department in a relatively large city. We are scheduled for four 12hour shifts per month, and durring those 12 hours we're on duty at the station. We have some paid medics to supliment our schedule holes throughout the city, but my station prides itself in being staffed completley with volunteers 24/7. It's rough for some of us who have families and jobs but we make it work. For some of us the city pays for all our training and we committ to volunteering a certain amount of time in return. We have all the same responsibilities and training of a paid department, the only difference is a paycheck, or lack therof. My brother calls me a communist because we get free training, the city gets free labor, and the citisens get a free ambulance ride and treatment.