After almost twenty-five years in EMS I have seen many different recruiting and retention projects implemented and seen nearly as many fail miserably because they were either not adequately funded or followed up on or just not interesting enough to attract the attention of the target audience.
When the email containing the URL for Pennsylvania’s “RollWithIt” campaign (broadband and Flash 6 required for best effect) came across my desktop I was skeptical. After watching it was was still skeptical but much less so.
The website starts with a dark page with the question “can you handle it” ? being the focus of attention. I found the page to be attention grabbing and piqued my curiosity. Clicking on the “bring it” link brings a video clip done in Flash that starts right out with an ambulance responding hot to the pounding soundtrack of guitars and drums and pressured rap lyrics. As the clip progresses showing the physically attractive and racially diverse crew responding to their call and treating the patient words and phrases are frequently flashed across the screen; “no doctors”, “no hospitals”, “no time to lose”, “heart in your throat”, “lives in the palm of your hands”. rolling with EMS”, “can you handle it”, and “only the string”. The lyrics are not always clearly understandable but fortunately they are in small print in the initial page.
I have to say that the video held my attention and I thought that, as a music video, it was well done. With a soundtrack like that as a recruiting tool I would be very likely to consider a job in EMS, or at least investigating the possibility.
The remainder of the website is dedicated to putting more information into the hands of perspective candidates. Descriptions of EMT’s and paramedics job responsibilities, listings of educational opportunities and even a list of some job openings in the State of Pennsylvania are included. Definitely enough information to get people pointed in the right direction. As a recruiting project this one seems to have been reasonably well thought out, targeted at the right people, young ones (hey, dinosaurs like me won’t be around forever), I truly hope that the effort is sustained and funded enough to make it work.
Still, I am skeptical. While this tool showed the “glory” side and worked hard to get the adrenaline pumping I have doubts about the long term results. Is it an honest portrayal ofEMS in the majority of communities? I didn’t see any of the routine, mundane, and even distasteful type of calls that fill the bulk of our shifts. The boredom, the low pay, the long hours were not discussed.
I understand why the producers elected to make a video the way that they did. Let’s face it, showing a crew doing the fifth or sixth dialysis transfer or intoxicated person is not going to attract people to EMS. I wonder just how many people, attracted to EMS by this type of portrayal will remain at the end of, say, five years. My gut tells me a minority and this spells trouble for EMS. We don’t just need people now but we also need the same people to be here ten years from now to be the core of experienced, seasoned providers who can help educate the next generation. Beyond that we need the same people to be here twenty, twenty-five, even thirty years from now to convince the incoming providers thatEMS is indeed a job with a future, and an actual career instead of just a stepping stone to something else.
My hope is that recruitment efforts like RollWithIt can attract enough people into EMS that at the end of a few years enough will have been bitten by “the EMS bug” to stay for the long term and be the firm foundation that EMS needs so that it can grow and prosper for the future.
Posted by The MacMedic
Posted by The MacMedic
Posted by The MacMedic
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