SAAS Retained?

[uniden]

Heard a rumour that SAAS might investigate the provision of a retained type of staffing for some of their stations. Some of the volunteer stations struggle to have enough crew and some rarely have cars available at all. Its getting harder to find volunteers of course.

[mack]

one problem i have noticed is that many potential vollies like to pick & choose which station to work out of... for instance, one of my brigades members has just started vollunteering, however has chosen the busier station, goolwa, rather than meadows even though it is closer....

perhaps this is contributing to the problem.

[country kid]

i dont understand why the age to volunteer with SAAS if higher then what it is for CFS or even SES.
does anyone know why?

[mack]

i dont understand why the age to volunteer with SAAS if higher then what it is for CFS or even SES.
does anyone know why?

there is no age limit, however there is a requirement for an un-restricted drivers liscence.

[6739264]

i dont understand why the age to volunteer with SAAS if higher then what it is for CFS or even SES.
does anyone know why?

A) You need a license to drive and B) I'd suggest you're going to see a whole lot more nasty trauma.

[country kid]

thanks guys, just thourght i would ask, coz there was an ad in the paper and it said minimum age was 19. so i didnt go to the info night because of that.

cheers

[rescue5271]

He wont be at Goolwa long as this is going to be turned into a full staff station,Dont SAAS already pay some of their volunteers???

[boredmatrix]

mmm...these two old chestnuts again!

Goolwa rumour has been going around for 10 years.....and the retained one for nearly as long!

[country kid]

mmm...these two old chestnuts again!

Goolwa rumour has been going around for 10 years.....and the retained one for nearly as long!

ha ha! wonderful input there!. very blunt and to the point...

[Alan (Big Al)]

The Goolwa crew currently run over 1000 jobs a year and about 1/3 of those being cat 1/2 jobs.  They have been talking for years about putting a paramedic car in there but nothing ever happens.  At one stage when they were having problems staffing a shift the Paramedic team leader would go on shift with one of the vollies.

Last night SAAS attended a debrief we had and they were the only car covering Goolwa, Victor, Finniss, Mount Compass etc etc..... Another car is needed but no cash to do it.
 
It is surprising how many vollies at the station are from the metro area, but i guess being the busiest country vollie station in the state, why  would you want to go to a station that does 300 jobs when you can go to one that does 1000-1300.

[RescueHazmat]

He wont be at Goolwa long as this is going to be turned into a full staff station,Dont SAAS already pay some of their volunteers???

I don't believe SAAS pay any Volunteers.. - After all, they would no longer be voluteers if they got paid.

[Pipster]

My understanding is that the SAAS Volunteers don't get paid a wage, but have their costs covered...eg travelling to & from SAAS work, and costs associated with paying child care in some circumstances....

So I suppose it is simply ensuring that the only thing volunteers give up is their time

Pip

[mengcfs]

I think the volunteers' employer may also get some reimbursement. We had a SAAS vollie here at work and i believe it was something along those lines. If anyone from SAAS is on here can you please confirm?

[rescue5271]

Was talking to a SAAS vol,she was saying if she is at work and gets  aSAAS job her employer is paid for the time she is away so as she still gets paid.

[bajdas]

So from what is stated:-

* SAAS volunteers get reimbursed for travel costs & expenses.
* The employer gets paid if SAAS volunteers respond during work time.

* MFS retained get a small hourly wage

Have I got this right ??
Hmmmm, sound similar system but would be different on tax returns.

Personally I like the SAAS system.

[Benji]

Where is smallflame.. she should be able to answer about the SAAS reimbursing vollies.

[safireservice]

So from what is stated:-

* SAAS volunteers get reimbursed for travel costs & expenses.
* The employer gets paid if SAAS volunteers respond during work time.

* MFS retained get a small hourly wage

Have I got this right ??
Hmmmm, sound similar system but would be different on tax returns.

Personally I like the SAAS system.

I believe retained MFS get a monthly retainer ($300?) plus somewhere in the region of $20? per hour for calls attended. I'm sure someone will correct me if these figures are'nt right.

[country kid]

Where is smallflame.. she should be able to answer about the SAAS reimbursing vollies.

prehaps ashamed? heard smallflame hasnt done a lot recently.

[Smallflame]

Where is smallflame.. she should be able to answer about the SAAS reimbursing vollies.

prehaps ashamed? heard smallflame hasnt done a lot recently.

Clever, Country kid. Commenting where you have little or no idea.. Perpetuating rumours, wherever you may have heard it from, is not particularly intelligent. However, feel free to actually contribute to the volunteering rather than sidelining and throwing threads into disarray with idiocy. On the bright side, we've obviously found spellcheck. At least thats something to be proud of today.

We're reimbursed for petrol if we're out of area, and for a meal. If you're within the catchment area there's a $5 payment per case attended during a shift. If you have to leave work as part of a second crew, you usually have to be within the catchment area to be viable to take out the second vehicle, and thereby recieve compensation to have left work. There's no point leaving if you're working in North Adelaide and need to get back to Goolwa for a cat 2!

Yes, there are issues crewing country stations, and there will continue to be seeing as people have less and less time to give to the community. There are incentives being discussed, but all up in the air as far as last time I heard anything.

[Smallflame]

i dont understand why the age to volunteer with SAAS if higher then what it is for CFS or even SES.
does anyone know why?

A) You need a license to drive and B) I'd suggest you're going to see a whole lot more nasty trauma.

YEp, 100% correct. In CFS/SES you can distance yourself somewhat from the blood and gore, SAAS, you're probably going to be wrist deep until someone more qualified gets there, even then you don't HAVE to hand over...

The minimum age stipulations is because you have to have a FULL c class license, or it makes training very difficult. I didn't come off my P's until the last week we had to complete our driving log (8 hours, at least 2 at night). It makes things difficult if you can't drive the ambulance, especially if you are the least qualified to deal with teh casualty

[mack]

so vollunteers get paid $5 per case they attend... sorry not havign a crack (or questioning you smallflame), but that doesnt sound like reimbursement, that sounds like straight out pay??

seems odd...

[CFS_Firey]

The minimum age stipulations is because you have to have a FULL c class license, or it makes training very difficult. I didn't come off my P's until the last week we had to complete our driving log (8 hours, at least 2 at night). It makes things difficult if you can't drive the ambulance, especially if you are the least qualified to deal with teh casualty

Don't you have to be 20 to get your full licence in SA?  Countrykid said the minimum SAAS age was 19...

[mack]

The minimum age stipulations is because you have to have a FULL c class license, or it makes training very difficult. I didn't come off my P's until the last week we had to complete our driving log (8 hours, at least 2 at night). It makes things difficult if you can't drive the ambulance, especially if you are the least qualified to deal with teh casualty

Don't you have to be 20 to get your full licence in SA?  Countrykid said the minimum SAAS age was 19...

19

[CFS_Firey]

The minimum age stipulations is because you have to have a FULL c class license, or it makes training very difficult. I didn't come off my P's until the last week we had to complete our driving log (8 hours, at least 2 at night). It makes things difficult if you can't drive the ambulance, especially if you are the least qualified to deal with teh casualty

Don't you have to be 20 to get your full licence in SA?  Countrykid said the minimum SAAS age was 19...

19

Thanks

[chook]

Just a small comment Smallflame "In CFS/SES you can distance yourself somewhat from the blood and gore," Who do you think cleans up the mess after you guys leave - including the ones beyond your help & the mess you guys leave .
And we are normally in there with the paramedics as there isn't that many of you guys is there?
So incentives hey - tell us more, I would be interested in what they are considerng since the same problems that affect SAAS affect SAMFS retained, CFS & SES. $5.00 a job? sounds like a real deal .
Anyway good luck with it cheers