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Jason Zigmont

Volunteer Professionals

Jason Zigmont, PhD, NREMT-P, currently serves as the Manager/Educator for the SYN:APSE Simulation center at Yale New Haven Health System. He was the founder of VolunteerFD.org, and has written extensively about Bylaws, Fundraising, Grants, Recruitment and Retention, SOGs and Training. He has been a member of the East Berlin Fire Department for more than 10 years, most recently acting as Training Officer. He holds a BS in Public Safety Administration and earned his PhD in Adult Learning at the University of Connecticut. He can be contacted at jason@volunteerfd.org.

LATEST ARTICLES
We always need more volunteers – we just need to do the work to get them
With proper pre-planning, applying for a grant can be a breeze and have a high likelihood of being funded
Recruitment and retention challenges mean it’s tough for us to be experts in everything
Personality conflicts can create issues unless addressed within departments
The experience itself of a training drill is not where the learning occurs, but is the start of the cycle
With the new year ahead, here is an example of how you can reflect upon your fire department and make improvements
In the United States, the debate over whether volunteers are employees or not has occurred at many levels and been ruled on
Some basic measures can help ensure new volunteer firefighters will stay longer and be able to make it through the tough times
Infighting at departments is inevitable, but if we fight our battles fairly, we can keep public safety at the forefront