By Jamie Thompson
EMS1 Senior Editor
ATLANTA — Practical tips for recruitment and retention at volunteer EMS agencies were offered during a session at EMS Expo.
During the presentation at the conference in Atlanta on Thursday, Ray Barishansky outlined a number of methods managers can use to ensure they can maintain healthy staffing numbers.
He told the audience volunteerism is declining for a number of reasons including the need to have two incomes/working two jobs in many cases, people not living in the same community where they work, increasing training requirements and general lack of community interest.
“I have some tips, I have some tricks, but most of my tips and tricks are about you,” Barishansky said. “If you’re in charge of an EMS agency, if you’re in charge of volunteers, then there’s a good possibility you will need to change your mindset.”
Barishansky, program chief for public health emergency preparedness at the Prince George’s County, Md., Department of Health, listed a number of reasons why many members don’t give more hours or even leave agencies including leadership/management issues, politics, “nasty” members, unreasonable hours and lack of unity.
He told the session that managers at volunteer agencies need to understand that recruitment is different to retention, with both being extremely important to the future health of their organizations.
“Recruitment is an investment in your future, retention is your ability to maximize that investment,” he said.
The session was told that agencies should not be top heavy — “do you really need an eighth lieutenant?” — and that members know they somewhere to go if they have an issue or complaint.
“If you’re in charge of an EMS agency … you need to have an open door policy,” Barishansky said.
“People need to know they have access to you. If the crew chief treats them badly, then they need to know they have somewhere to go with that complaint.”
Such a policy is vital to preventing potential problems at an early stage, according to Barishansky.
“What do people do when they get frustrated? They talk,” he said. “They talk to other people who are also frustrated so before they leave — which they will do — they will have upset more people.”
To improve recruitment and retention, Barishansky said, agencies should look at their membership policies, and whether there are too many unnecessary protocols.
“Do prospective members have to deal with one person or eight?” he said. “Do you require multiple interviews? Are there probationary tasks such as cleaning the building once a week?”
Agencies should also be flexible to the potential or recruiting volunteers to non-traditional volunteer EMS roles such as PR, marketing and book-keeping personnel, Barishansky told the session.
“Not everybody who wants to help your organization needs to be an EMS provider,” he said. “Your organization has other needs than patient care givers.”
Barishansky has been involved in EMS for the past 18 years in a variety of systems including urban, suburban and rural and in a variety of positions as a provider, supervisor and manager. Prior to his current position, he served as executive director of the Hudson Valley Regional EMS Council based in Newburgh, N.Y., and worked with the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
During the session, he gave an example of a local garage owner who walked into his station one day to tell them that while he had always wanted to donate to the agency, he did not have enough money to do so.
“The person who did our vehicle maintenance told him he had always had a particular problem with a Ford ambulance. The guy said, ‘I can help with that — can that be my donation?”
The session was also told that agencies need to be flexible with where they look to recruit volunteers.
“Have one week a year when you go to every single house of worship in your community and say, “Reverend, father, rabbi, iman … you need to assist us in recruiting volunteers. Can you help us by reading from this sheet of paper?” Barishansky said.
Barishansky said the agency can draft the note, which can detail the basic facts of what the agency does and the type of people it is looking for. This message when delivered by the head of the house of worship, Barishansky said, can carry huge resonance within the community.