Marie Bliss is in charge of welcoming new members into the SVAA organization. Once an applicant becomes a member of SVAA, they are assigned to a members group led by one of our officers, given a medic #, a policy and procedures manual and a key. If the new member is under 18 years of age, they go through the explorers program. The new member is given a uniform and SVAA badge and allowed to start riding on the ambulance and signing up for shifts according to their level of training.
Another aspect of Marie's position could be classified as membership retention, or, reward and incentives. Marie
started this program in May of 2002. It includes reviewing run sheets every month and awarding a "prize"
to the top 10-15 members based on a particular criteria. Each month the criteria and prizes are different. Some
recent examples are: towels with our logo for calls in the rain, gas cards for mutual aide calls, lunch bags filled
with goodies for the farthest away calls, flashlights for overnight calls, and just recently, a window punch and
seat belt cutter for MVA's. Marie has also been able to obtain awards such as "light
up" pens, small pads with our logo on them, collapsible coolers,
and tee shirts for all the members. Marie awards monthly prizes as well as "everyone prizes" so no one
is left out.
Marie has rebuilt the "orientation process" that new members experience. A new member is given a complete
tour of the building, shown where things are, and how to answer the phone. She also reviews with the new member
other operating procedures and common day-to-day activities experienced members take for granted. The intent is
to have the new member feel at home and begin to enjoy the friendship that the SVAA members offer each other as
quickly as possible.
Although Marie is the one in charge of the program, she is always looking for suggestions for prizes and selection
criteria.