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Regardless of the relative success of the 1,000 Points of Life campaign in the early 90’s, or the resurgence of patriotism after the events of September 2001, we have to face facts. In a great majority of fire, EMS community support groups, youth sports leagues and even agencies nationwide such as Red Cross, the well of volunteerism is drying up. The growth reality is, with the demands of double-working families, more people working out of town and numerous other things impacting our time, many agencies are beginning to ‘fix’ their problems by intergrading paid staff. Their goal is to ensure coverage during problem areas in their operating schedules. Additionally: burnout, morale problems, increasing call volumes, paperwork, OSHA, HIPAA, OEMS and billing requirements are all stains on the organizations abilities to respond and operate efficiently and effectively. As emergency service agencies evolve and communities expect more, the problem of recruiting, retaining and motivating volunteers will only get worse. Integrating paid staff is a way to maintain the value and traditions of volunteer agencies without sacrificing the mission of servicing our communities. Paid staff is a reality. If paid staff are integrated well and managed effectively, communities can have the best of both worlds. This is exactly what Emergency Resource Management has and is proposing to provide, a seamless transition of service to a community without further impacting negatively their EMS system.
To date ERM employs 80 EMS professionals and covers combined day time populations of approximately 125,000 people 12 hours per day 7 days per week.
Whether it’s one shift per week, on-call basis, to special event stand-by’s to 3 shift per day 7 days a week, ERM is available to help. |
