EMS Access Fellowship
WHY
The challenges facing volunteer EMS agencies often run deeper than what's visible on the surface. Outdated bylaws, inconsistent financial practices, and undefined roles and responsibilities create vulnerabilities that can quietly undermine even the most dedicated organizations. These challenges rarely fall to someone whose full-time job is to fix them. Instead, they fall to people who joined to run calls and are what quietly burns out the volunteers holding these organizations together. When operational and financial fundamentals are not given the same priority as patient care, the shortfall can become unrecoverable.
WHAT
Our objective is to give agencies the same rigor, resources, and expertise to manage their organizational health that they already apply to patient care. The EMS Access fellowship is a structured, hands-on engagement that works alongside your leadership to assess your finances, governance, and operations, and build the systems your agency needs to thrive.
WHO
Applications are open to New York State volunteer EMS board members and senior leadership. Whether your agency is navigating a crisis or getting ahead of one, EMS Access is here to help.
WHERE & WHEN
We come to you. Our first meeting takes place in-person at your agency's headquarters. From there, meetings are held virtually or in-person, based on what works best for your team. The fellowship is structured around one full financial calendar year.
HOW MUCH
It costs your agency nothing.
As a funded 501(c)(3), EMS Access sponsors each fellowship in full. What we ask in return is your commitment. To the Process. To your Team. To the Work. Without it, meaningful progress cannot be achieved.
WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE
Our inaugural partner agency came to us with finances that had gone unmanaged and organizational procedures that no longer reflected how the agency operated. Over the course of their fellowship, we established a bookkeeper-managed system through QuickBooks, built clean accounts with proper checks and balances, and improved financial reporting across the board. We also delivered revised standard operating documents based on current industry standards. At the end of the fellowship year, the agency renewed for a second year of continued quarterly support.