CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS

If you are a volunteer EMS leader, by now you may be saying, "this is all good information but who has the time to do this? Herein lies the crux of much of the problem facing Volunteer Services. Many services believe this presents a paradox, for they do not have enough members to be able to recruit more members! The mistake that many services make is that their membership requirements are too rigid and they do not access outside resources well. Services need to loosen up their membership categories. Most services have membership categories only for medics, drivers and dispatchers. Therefore, if I desired to assist my local service in recruiting new members, or helping them in financial matters, I must first become a driver, medic or dispatcher. Membership requirements need to be flexible enough to allow for individuals that do not want to staff ambulances, but have special skills valuable to the service. They too, want to be fully recognized as part of the team. These new members that have specialized skills and duties can then form the nucleus of staff that will produce and maintain a quality community relations, recruitment and retention programs, and other administrative tasks.

Services also rarely go benchmarking. The wheel is constantly being reinvented across America. The result is that valuable member time is spent starting to work on a project from scratch. Much more dissemination of effective management practices needs to permeate across the country. Networking among service leaders should occur on an ongoing basis. Learning from each other's successes and failures allows for continued forward progress in the areas of recruitment and retention rather than individuals spinning their wheels in order to "get it right". There are specific needs for specific areas however; good recruitment ideas can work in numerous situations. 

There exists a need for an informational network for volunteer services. A great opportunity for services and their leaders to network or benchmark without leaving town is use of the Internet system. The Internet system is a worldwide network of people connected by their computers and telephone lines. Even the most timid of computer users needs to understand that this system holds great potential for users to learn from each other. Several EMS specific groups of people have formed networks and share information any time of day or night. All that is needed is a computer, modem, software and a connection to the system. Several companies like CompuServe will allow access to the Internet. Find the computer expert in your service so that you can connect your service to the system. 

Distance Learning is yet another form of communication that will grow tremendously and has great promise for volunteer services. Imagine taking most or all your EMS education via satellite or fiber optic telephone line! Many states EMS offices are using this technology to provide great educational opportunities to services that otherwise could not have access to them. The addition of administrative training programs will assist the leadership of the services to stay informed and be prepared for the changes that continue to confront EMS organizations.

Some larger services are even considering hiring a paid administrator to manage the service. Several services could share the cost and benefits of employing an administrator. This could free up volunteers to do what they joined the service to do, to care for sick and injured members of their community. 

We have suggested numerous strategies for volunteer EMS services to use to strengthen their service. Learning leadership does not require a trip to Tibet or the university. It requires being sensitive to the needs of the service members. The value of securing and maintaining strong community bonding is critical. The volunteer ambulance "gospel" must be presented to the public to capture and maintain this community support. Likewise, services must spend more time preparing and delivering recruitment and retention programs. Services must plan, sell, and close the deal when it comes to recruiting new members. Services also have to spend more time in trying to keep the valuable volunteers they often take for granted. Service leaders also need to learn how to work more cooperatively with outside organizations. We will never go back to the days where services were free to totally control their own destiny. 

Many people are convinced that the days of volunteer EMS are coming to a close in America. This prophecy will come true in Livingston and Steuben Counties if you continue to "chase the cows" and "fail to fix the fence." Services must invest more time in planning for the future. Meeting on the specification of the next vehicle should be lesser priority and may become less time consuming with long term planning.