[KPFARS-Operations] IMPORTANT and URGENT: May 2024 Schedule

[Alfred Low-Beer]

Mustafa and Amar have been taking care of scheduling but have indicated to me that they can no longer undertake this arduous task.  I understand and thank them for the excellent job they have done.  For the immediate future, I will be taking over scheduling.

I will be sending out a preliminary schedule on the 15th of the prior month and you will have to the 23rd to request any changes in the schedule.  After that, if you cannot cover your assigned shift, you will have to find your own replacement and notify me of the change.  I realize there are emergencies, and we will deal with those as they arise, but do not take advantage of the situation.

I have attached a copy of the proposed schedule for May.  I understand, it is past the 15th of the prior month, but if you have any issues, please let me know by April 29th so I can resolve them.

I will enter the final schedule into Planit EMS so you have it handy on your smartphone for the month on April 30th.

There are a couple of points I need to make about the schedule.

1.    Our organization provides a valuable and critical service to our community.  As a member you owe the community several things:  obtain the training to carry out your duties at a superior level, maintain your skills at a level that allows you to carry out your duties at a superior level, and meet your obligations to carry out those duties.

2.    We have an insufficient number of crew chiefs.  Also, we have not always provided the training for our crew chiefs to confidently and properly carry out their duties.  I propose to change this and return to a system where this can be accomplished.  Every person who is an EMT who wants to be a crew chief will be given that opportunity and will not be subject to the opinions of others as to whether they are worthy to become a crew chief.  You only have to indicate you are interested in becoming a crew chief.  We will provide a combination of online and in person classes that are widely used to train crew chiefs along with field experience with a experienced crew chief.

3.    Training as a driver will be provided to anyone who wants it, once they complete an approved CEVO-Ambulance course.

4.    Some crews have too many members on the crew.  A crew should have either 3 or 4 crew members no more.  A crew with 2 experienced members can be used in rare circumstances, but nobody should ever take a call by themselves.  Five member crews just do not work, either the ambulance is overcrowded, or crew members are not given the opportunity to ride.  We will give preference to EMT's to the extent we should have 1 or 2 on every shift.  Preference will also be given to persons willing to ride a full 12-hour shift.  In rare cases preference will be based on seniority.  I will be reaching out to persons on 5 member crews to have someone ride on another night or weekend.

5.    We do not have any Sunday crews scheduled.  Right now, SBEMS covers Sundays as well as weekdays during the day.  Every month they tell us that they are having trouble putting together Sunday crews, especially overnight, and often can only manage 1 crew for the entire town.  We have the manpower and should be able to man Sunday crews.

6.    Many members do not ride at all or only on rare occasion, you cannot keep up your skills in this manner.  Please consider filling one of the open spots on our schedule.

I know that not everyone is on our mailing list so please forward this to those you know are not receiving our operational mailings and share this with them.

I know that our membership records are not in great shape, but we are working on fixing them.  That, however, is the subject for a future email that I will be sending out in the next few days. In the meanwhile,  I will also consider including the messaging systems built into PlanitEMS and I AM RESPONDING as a method of communicating with the squad.

If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.

Thanks,

Alfred Low-Beer
Chief
Kendall Park First Aid & Rescue Squad
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