On Thursday afternoon, I will be speaking with Dave Tesh and Jo Richmond at the 123rd Annual State Firefighters Conference in Hampton, Virginia.  We’ll be speaking about ways to keep your department afloat, and to thrive in tough economic times.

The Virginia State Firefighters Association puts on a mammoth conference for the state’s firefighters each year.  It’ll be fun -- and if you’re around, stop by and say hi!

The Worker, The Wallet and The Waystation

Why Keeping Your EMS Workers Is Harder Every Day

Thursday 1:30 pm Room 203

What’s your turnover rate? If the question makes you think of breakfast pastries and not retention, this is the session you need to attend! (If you thought about retention, you’re probably already coming.)

In this session, the speakers will discuss the realities of EMS worker retention in 2009. Whether paid or unpaid, an increasingly fragile economy and an increasingly fickle workforce make 30-year careers less and less a reality. Keeping your workers by building a culture of retention throughout your organization will be a key message from this session.

Join Dana Love and David Tesh as they explore the state, listen to funny examples of retention programs gone wrong, and hear tales of agencies that thought they were “the best at EMS”, right up until their staff fled. The speakers will introduce a solution to the retention problems we all face: A good first step is to use the answers and apply the principles found in Keeping The Best! series from the Office of EMS.

We’ll test the idea that the thing that separates those who struggle with retention and those who don’t is how well the implement retention principles.