EMS Week

[stone13]

Sorry if this has been asked somewhere else, I looked and couldn't find it.

Looking for new ideas to celebrate EMS Week. We seem to do the same old same old every year. We have the local council do the EMS Week proclamation and we participate in the National Moment of Silence. We do B/P checks and hand out the little cards to record the results on, but that is about it. Any ideas would be great. Thanks!

[Richard B the EMT]

I refer you to a string from last year, which might or might not be of assistance.

Why did you wait until the month of EMS Week to ask?

EMS Week 2007

[stone13]

Sorry, I should have clarified. We are looking for new ideas for next year. Doing the same thing again this year brought it into perspective. Thanks for the link.

[Scaramedic]

Sounds like you need to do something for your staff. Have a Barbecue, set up days of giveaways. One service I worked for went to the public and got gifts for all their employees. Management would also wash the cars of the employees during the week. Make up snazzy t-shirts for your crews. Burn your manager in effigy. Make it a fun week for your staff, that's who it is about. We serve the public 365 days a year. Give one week to the staff to let them know you appreciate them.

[dahlio]

Gotta love the free goodies

[Dustdevil]

Sounds like you need to do something for your staff. Have a Barbecue, set up days of giveaways. One service I worked for went to the public and got gifts for all their employees. Management would also wash the cars of the employees during the week. Make up snazzy t-shirts for your crews. Burn your manager in effigy. Make it a fun week for your staff, that's who it is about. We serve the public 365 days a year. Give one week to the staff to let them know you appreciate them.

Interesting ideas. Seems like most agencies approach EMS Week as a time to do a little public exposure and education. That's pretty much the way I've always seen it. The hospitals usually put out some cake and cookies for us, but otherwise, we don't seem to celebrate ourselves as some other professions do during their day or week. I think Scaramedic is right, that management should take that opportunity to do something fun and celebrate our week, instead of making it a week to work harder by going out and doing BP checks and exhibits. We've got 51 other weeks of the year to do that kind of thing, and we should be.

Make it an employee appreciation week. It doesn't have to cost much or any money. Postpone any scheduled beatings until next week. Use the week to hand out employee awards, maybe even paid days off. And not just awards to the usual arse-kissers, but tokens of appreciation to the entire crew. Also, send cards to your employees' families and spouses, thanking them for their caring and understanding contributions to your employee's career. When everyone is together for punch and cake, take the opportunity to ask them honestly for input in a relaxed environment. The t-shirt idea is great too.

I agree, don't approach EMS Week as a chore that means extra work. Have fun with it!

[Richard B the EMT]

FYI, from the FDNY's own site...

http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/insider/event...8/051408a.shtml

And as for actual activities by the FDNY...

http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/insider/event...8/051408c.shtml

[Don1977]

EMS week dont mean dick to me, I work night turns they have nothing for us here for night turns. It sucks

[emt4909]

Our EMS system provides steak dinners for the members at each department's monthly meetings, so there is no extra work for the personnel, but it is a little something to say thank you. I agree 100%; it is nice to get public awareness out, but make EMS week about the staff. One year, we also had a renowned instructor come in to conduct free C.E. for the system. Anything to appreciate the staff is time well spent during EMS week.

[Doug]

I work nights, you want to know how I celebrate EMS week? I usually spend it cleaning up after the day crews after management has dropped off pizza or meat platter for lunch. Really not into eating a samich of 10 hour room temp meats and cheeses..lol. Honestly, until I saw this thread I had forgotten all about it. In fact most years it's the disarray of the crews quarters that tips me off that it even happened.