Skip to main content

Grant Preparedness


Really, two days ago I am telling you about a potential shutdown in the federal government and in the next I am posting a picture of cash across the top with a title of grant preparedness.  But I promise I will make you understand why, or at least I hope. 

You know, when I think about emergency services I think about all the times that my brothers and sister are placed in the most unusual situations and they do it for the benefit of helping a member of their community.  Think about it, when somebody has something happen and they cannot immediately figure out what to do, they typically call 911.  The dispatchers are forced to think about who best to handle the situation and then they tones are activated and the crews start to respond.  I would ask about the most unusual call you have witness/responded to, but I want to make sure to keep my rating level down here. 

After the call is done, responders will typically ask themselves why they were even alerted to this response, but they will correct the situation before questioning their response.  We are their for the public.  But there is one thing that all of these responses come down to.  They come down to operating assets.  They come down to cash, and in today's political climate...well, funding isn't what it used to be.  I think if you took a survey of all fire, police and EMS departments across the country you will find that personnel per capita has decreased over the years.  I remember the stories of fire trucks leaving the station with 5-6 personnel on board while we were leaving the station with 3.  Law enforcement officers working 2-3 in a small downtown market "beat" and now you have 3-4 in a multiple square mile district.  System status ambulance services, and demand scheduling, swing shifts, you name it multiple ideas have been put into place to save money. 

How can you help your department get more money in the times of potential government shutdowns.  Well there are large amount of grant funds that remain available even in the current state of affairs.  At this point I speak about grants as a general term, but you have large amount of monies available from local state and federal grant programs, while you also have funding that is available from foundation projects etc.  Grants, unlike an emergency response cannot be responded to in a moments notice.

How can you start in the world of grants?  Well, just like any good response, you must develop a plan, and then implement it.  Before starting I would start with some background on grants and grant development.  This is a point where I can direct you to some friends.  www.firegrantshelp.com and www.emsgrantshelp.com are both excellent resources that are available to help you be successful in some of the various grant projects available. 

Look at enhancing your budget through grants. 

Take Care and Stay Safe!
The Combomedic

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ELPA 6872 -Educational Technology

Good Morning Everybody. It has been a long time since I have posted on this blog.  The reason I am is a great reason for my Fire and EMS Audience, as well as my academic colleagues. After a very eventful beginning of 2018, my application was selected to join the latest cohort of students obtaining their Doctor of Education.  As part of this program, we are completing a course that is dedicated to technology and implementation into the classroom.  The delivery of this program is through technology based platforms, in that it is an online program. Here are some questions that I have about technology, and online learning. 1)  To mimic some of the classroom interaction and discussion, online educators use the discussion board with each module to foster communication.  For those of you having completed online educational programs, what made the discussion board useful? 2)  Does the set-up of the online course material make a difference in the success o...
8 comments
Read more

Humbling Weekend creates great joy!!!

The #COMBOMEDIC is back after a short hiatus...sorry about the delay, but I took a couple days off to recoup.  And yet, I remain tired...still!  I guess that is a sign, I just don't know of what yet.  There are times in which the significance of the events are overwhelming in and of themselves and yet when you combine them with something else it is even better.  For me this past weekend was just that...a weekend of such significance that it was overwhelming.  Mountain Man Memorial March On Saturday the 20th of April I has the privilege of walking for soldiers that have given their lives in the defense of a grateful nation.  I was asked to participate in the Mountain Man Memorial March and was part of a team that comprised military members, family members, and high school guys and girls.  On this day we took part in a 13.1 mile march around a terrain composed of flat areas and a large amount of mountainous hills.  This isn't supposed to...
1 comment
Read more

Who owns your ambulance.

It has been an interesting morning, and you know this because I am actually submitting this blog first thing this morning (ok, maybe not first thing...but you know what I'm talking about).  I have been out of my office since last Friday, and I am just now catching up on my rss feeds.  Now, like many of you I have multiple RSS feeds dedicated to the fields of fire and EMS, as well as to the Healthcare field.  As you can image, these feed boxes were jam packed with articles that have circulated since last Friday and just ready for me to read over their words.  There were several good articles, some that were just funny, and one that left me thinking I needed to watch Silence of the Lambs again (strange HUH!).  In looking over these RSS feeds, I found a common topic that I thought was interesting.  Now, what was intersting was the topic was common, but the outcomes were anything but.  As you can tell by the little picture I included with this versio...
Post a Comment
Read more