Name: 小城鎮還應該有志願急救服務嗎？ (Should small towns still have volunteer EMS?)
Uploaded: 2025-06-26T03:03:33.000Z
Duration: 7 min 49 s

基礎被動語態

In the U.S., emergency services are sometimes provided not by paid workers, but by volunteers.

在美國，應急服務有時不是由帶薪工作人員提供，而是由志願者提供。

And which one it is can differ depending on where you are.

至於是哪一種，則取決於您所處的地理位置。

程度副詞

This chart shows that in urban areas, the majority of emergency medical services agencies are staffed entirely by paid employees.

該圖顯示，在城市地區，大多數緊急醫療服務機構的工作人員都是全職僱員。

In the more isolated rural areas of the U.S., it's the complete opposite.

在美國較為偏僻的農村地區，情況則完全相反。

These are the regions of the U.S. that need volunteers for their emergency services to run.

美國的這些地區都需要志願者來提供應急服務。

Back in 1984, there were nearly 900,000 volunteer firefighters in the U.S.

早在 1984 年，美國就有近 90 萬名志願消防員。

By 2020, that number had dropped by more than 220,000.

到 2020 年，這一數字減少了 22 萬多人。

When you consider the U.S. population grew by 100 million people during that time, that's almost a 50% decline per capita.

如果考慮到在此期間美國人口增長了 1 億，那麼人均人口下降了近 50%。

The U.S., especially in its small towns, needs more volunteers than it has.

美國，尤其是小城鎮，需要更多的志願者。

This is not something that just popped up overnight.

These wheels were set in motion going all the way back to the 60s and 70s.

早在上世紀六七十年代，這些車輪就已經啟動。

The new fire station in town is manned entirely by volunteers, people who give their time to a community service.

鎮上的新消防站完全由志願者負責，他們為社區服務奉獻自己的時間。

Almost 70% of rural EMS providers have reported having difficulty in recruiting volunteers.

近 70% 的農村緊急醫療服務提供者表示很難招募到志願者。

And now the community is looking around, realizing that they got a free ride for the first 30 or 40 years.

而現在，社會各界正環顧四周，意識到在最初的三四十年裡，他們得到了免費的好處。

So why are small town volunteers, once the backbone of emergency response, disappearing?

那麼，曾經是應急響應中堅力量的小鎮志願者為何正在消失？

T-Mobile didn't dictate the content of this video, but they did make our reporting possible.

T-Mobile 沒有決定本視頻的內容，但他們使我們的報道成為可能。

The first clue to why this is happening might be in the fact that emergency volunteers in the U.S. are increasingly older.

美國應急志願者的年齡越來越大，這可能是造成這種情況的第一個線索。

They might have been there when the ambulance service started in 1982.

1982 年救護車服務開始時，他們可能就在那裡。

You know, they're getting to be 70, 80 years old now.

你知道，他們現在都七八十歲了。

And that's especially true in rural areas.

In towns under 2,500 people, roughly 1 in 3 firefighters is over 50.

在 2500 人以下的城鎮，大約每 3 名消防員中就有 1 人超過 50 歲。

1987 年，這一比例曾為六分之一。

If younger people aren't signing up, it means something is making becoming a volunteer today different than what it was in the past.

如果沒有年輕人報名，那就意味著今天成為志願者與過去有所不同。

So why is it so hard to recruit young volunteers today?

那麼，為什麼如今招募青年志願者如此困難？

A lot of the volunteer fire departments in general were kind of family-based organizations and really they were social clubs for many years.

許多志願消防隊都是以家庭為基礎的組織，多年來一直是社交俱樂部。

That's how it started for Randall Hannafin.

蘭德爾-漢納芬就是這樣開始的。

He's now the assistant fire chief of Westchester, Ohio, and a fire and EMS consultant.

他現在是俄亥俄州韋斯特切斯特市的助理消防隊長，也是一名消防和緊急醫療服務顧問。

One thing I heard from a lot of people is that volunteering itself has changed from the way it was a few decades ago.

我從很多人那裡聽到的一點是，志願服務本身與幾十年前相比已經發生了變化。

You and I could be qualified to go out and run on an ambulance with very little training.

你我只需稍加培訓，就能勝任救護車的駕駛工作。

But as emergency medicine advanced, so did the expectations.

但隨著急診醫學的發展，人們對它的期望也越來越高。

What used to be basic first aid and transport is now complex higher stakes care.

過去是基本的急救和運輸，現在則是複雜的高風險護理。

But to get that, it takes on additional training and some volunteers didn't have the time to do that.

但要做到這一點，需要額外的培訓，而一些志願者沒有時間去做。

To become an EMT today, it takes about 150 hours of training.

如今，要成為一名急救員，需要接受大約 150 個小時的培訓。

An emergency responder, just basic life-saving care like CPR and first aid, still takes 48 hours.

一名急救人員，僅僅是心肺復甦術和急救等基本的救生護理，仍然需要 48 小時。

So training to become an EMT would be like doing nearly 3 weeks of work for free in the case of volunteers.

是以，培訓成為一名急救員，對於志願者來說，就相當於免費做了近 3 周的工作。

And that's if you drop everything else and just train for 8 hours a day.

這還是在你放棄其他一切，每天只訓練 8 小時的情況下。

In reality, that training is often squeezed in around full-time jobs and family life.

在現實生活中，這種培訓往往要擠佔全職工作和家庭生活的時間。

You have one commodity as a laborer in the workforce in the United States and that's your time.

在美國，作為勞動力，你只有一件商品，那就是你的時間。

Volunteering is simply more demanding than it used to be.

But volunteering isn't the only thing that's changed.

但志願服務並不是唯一的變化。

It's become so expensive to live these days.

There's just literally no time left to come in and volunteer.

And on top of that, there are fewer people to do the volunteering.

除此之外，從事志願服務的人也越來越少。

This map color codes every rural county in the U.S.

該地圖以不同顏色標註了美國的每個農村縣。

Green if it gained population from 2010 to 2020.

如果從 2010 年到 2020 年人口增加，則為綠色。

這是一張大部分為紅色的地圖。

Two-thirds of all rural counties lost population during that time because more people moved out than moved in.

在此期間，三分之二的農村縣人口減少，因為遷出的人多於遷入的人。

出生人數減少，死亡人數增加。

And a big part of that loss is young people.

這其中很大一部分是年輕人的損失。

Young Americans growing up don't want to stay in rural America.

成長中的美國年輕人不想留在美國農村。

They're looking for a more urbanized lifestyle and have access to all the rest of that.

他們正在尋找一種更加城市化的生活方式，並能享受到所有其他生活方式。

But even for the young people that are still in small towns, life is different than it was a few decades ago.

但是，即使對於仍在小鎮上的年輕人來說，生活也與幾十年前不同了。

People are not joining organizations at the same rates as they used to.

人們加入組織的速度不如從前。

Religious congregations, service organizations, all of these kind of clubs and associations that give people a place to belong.

宗教團體、服務組織，所有這些俱樂部和協會都給人們提供了一個歸屬之地。

As you have more and more technology, used to you had to go hang out with your friends somewhere.

隨著科技的發展，以前你不得不去某個地方和朋友一起玩。

Well, that may have been the fire department.

Now, proliferation of all the phones and social media, like you don't need to leave your living room to hang out with your friends every day.

現在，所有手機和社交媒體的普及，就像你不需要離開客廳就能每天和朋友們出去玩一樣。

In 2023, young Americans spend six hours alone per day.

2023 年，美國年輕人每天獨處的時間將達到 6 小時。

Time spent with co-workers, friends, partners, and even family comes close.

與同事、朋友、伴侶甚至家人相處的時間也很接近。

我們該如何嘗試解決這個問題？

Some people talk to me about recognition.

We get our local newspaper and put a spotlight on our volunteers.

我們會在當地報紙上刊登志願者的報道。

We've got to show the volunteers that we need them.

我們必須向志願者表明我們需要他們。

But some communities in the U.S. are going further, offering stipends, tuition reimbursements and tax credits to volunteers.

但美國的一些社區則更進一步，為志願者提供津貼、學費報帳和稅收減免。

Even in free housing, like in parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, others are reorganizing completely.

即使是在免費住房中，如賓夕法尼亞州和馬里蘭州的部分地區，其他地區也在進行徹底重組。

A lot of times, because they're such small rural communities, I always say the tax base per square mile doesn't equate to enough to afford paid people.

很多時候，因為它們是如此小的農村社區，我總是說每平方英里的稅收基礎不足以負擔得起帶薪工作的人員。

So a lot of times you're forced to look at regionalization of a system.

是以，很多時候你不得不考慮系統的區域化問題。

Regionalization means this, instead of each small town trying to fund its own ambulance or fire crew, neighboring towns pool resources, money, staffing, equipment into one shared set of services.

區域化的意思是，相鄰的小鎮將資源、資金、人員和設備集中起來，共同提供一套服務，而不是每個小鎮都想方設法為自己的救護車或消防隊提供資金。

That can mean fewer stations, but better coverage.

這可能意味著臺站數量更少，但覆蓋範圍更大。

One thing I heard from several people, though, is that ultimately the best option might be the simplest one.

不過，我從一些人那裡聽到的一點是，最終最好的選擇可能是最簡單的選擇。

We never look around and say, you know what, somebody ought to volunteer to do that.

我們從來不會環顧四周，然後說，你知道嗎，應該有人自願來做這件事。

We ought to have volunteer physicians, we ought to have volunteer nurses.

我們應該有志願醫生，我們應該有志願護士。

And yet we continue to try to prop up this model that is just fractured and it's falling apart.

然而，我們仍在試圖支撐這種已經支離破碎、分崩離析的模式。

To date, the value of a volunteer's time is estimated at over $34.79 an hour.

迄今為止，志願者的時間價值估計超過每小時 34.79 美元。

If you consider that towns need 24-7 staff,

如果考慮到城鎮需要全天候的工作人員、

The highest cost in any ambulance service, rural or urban, is personnel and their labor and benefits.

無論是農村還是城市，救護車服務的最高成本都是人員及其勞動和福利。

And that has been donated for four decades by the volunteers.

四十年來，這些都是志願者們捐贈的。

And that's why many experts believe the answer isn't recruiting more volunteers.

這就是為什麼許多專家認為答案不是招募更多的志願者。

I think I lasted as a volunteer all six months because they were willing to pay me to work shifts.

我想，我之所以堅持做了整整六個月的志願者，是因為他們願意付錢讓我輪班工作。

You know, getting paid seemed much better than volunteering.

要知道，拿報酬似乎比當志願者要好得多。

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小城鎮還應該有志願急救服務嗎？ (Should small towns still have volunteer EMS?)

ultimately

realize

force

community