Rostering and member management in a first aid association

It is Tuesday evening, a quarter to nine, and the secretary of First Aid Association 'De Reddingslijn' is sitting with her laptop on her knees. She is trying to finalise the on-call rotas for the coming season: which member is covering the local fair, who is doing the four-day walking event, and who is still available for the funfair in three weeks' time. Three WhatsApp groups, an Excel file and a set of separate emails have to provide the answer together.

What is a first aid association and what makes scheduling difficult

A first-aid association is a volunteer organisation that trains in first aid and deploys members at third-party events, such as a sports match, fair or street market. The board also manages membership fees, training courses and a membership administration system that must be kept up to date.

For years at De Reddingslijn, scheduling was done via a shared Excel file on Google Drive. Whoever was available put their name in a cell. That worked fine when the association had twenty members and did three events a year. When the number of requests for external deployment grew to almost one per weekend during the season, things went wrong: two members signed up for the same shift, a third didn't know they were scheduled, and the treasurer received random WhatsApp messages about who had made what expenses.

How does the management schedule the on-call shifts now

The board decided to organise deployment at external events as a schedule with separate shifts, much like a sports club schedules bar duty. For each request, the secretary now creates a shift with the date, start and end times, location and the number of first aiders required. Members sign up themselves via the membership administration of 4planning, and the secretary can see at a glance which shifts are not yet full.

For larger events, such as the annual four-day walking event, the committee chose the registration mode with approval: a member signs up, but the coordinator only confirms the place afterwards. For smaller, recurring jobs, registration is immediate, so members do not have to wait for confirmation. Anyone who still needs to cancel does so with a reason, and there is a deadline after which a cancellation is first assessed.

How does a first aid association keep its membership list up to date

Besides the on-call duties, there was a second bottleneck: the membership base itself. Trainees, qualified first-aiders and members certified in resuscitation were all mixed together in the same list, without distinction. The board set up groups by course level and certification, so that it is immediately apparent who may be deployed for a shift that requires resuscitation knowledge.

When a new member is added, not only a name and telephone number are included since then, but also which group the member belongs to. A member who via a Excel file is being imported, falls automatically into the correct group if the columns are set up properly. That saved the secretary a whole evening of manual sorting after the first membership drive of the year.

What was disappointing about the switch

Not everything went right the first time. The older members of De Reddingslijn had been used for decades to a phone call or a WhatsApp message whenever help was needed, and some of them simply kept calling during the first few months instead of signing up for a shift. The board had to send out an explanatory newsletter twice before everyone caught on to the new way of working, and one volunteer only cancelled his attendance a week after an event simply because he hadn't opened the roster. That is no reason to abandon the approach, but it is something a board must take into account during implementation: count on a settling-in period of at least one season.

When does this approach suit and when not

A rota with separate shifts and structured groups pays off especially when a first-aid association receives multiple external requests a month and has more than a handful of members who need to be distinguished by their qualification. From that point on, it becomes difficult to keep track in your head or in a single Excel file of who is where and who holds which certificate.

A small first-aid association with a handful of regular volunteers and a few events a year often gets by just fine with a shared overview or simply by phone consultations between the coordinator and the members. Making the switch to a permanent system is then an investment that only pays off once the rostering actually becomes complex. If the association grows, it is nice to know that the same structure scales with you without having to start all over again.

How does the executive board maintain oversight of diplomas and membership fees

A first aid certificate is not valid forever and requires refresher training. De Reddingslijn uses a reminder that goes out well before the expiry date, so that a member does not only discover that their qualification has lapsed when making an application. For the membership fee, which at this association consists of a fixed amount plus a separate contribution for material costs, the treasurer drew up a contributory scheme with two components If a term remains outstanding, the treasurer sends a payment reminder at the touch of a button instead of having to chase it up themselves.

For the lesson planning itself, with basic courses and refresher classes that recur periodically, the board prepares a training series and blocks out the summer holidays so that no lessons are scheduled then. Anyone asking if there are still any shifts available can also simply ask Planny: the assistant shows which shifts are not yet full and who has not yet worked a shift this season.

Frequently asked questions about scheduling at a first aid association

Can a member register directly for an external service? Yes, a service has a date, times, location and the number of first-aiders required, and a member registers for it themselves, either directly guaranteed or with prior approval.

Is there a maximum to the number of people you can assign to a shift? No, there is no upper limit to the number of persons you set for a shift.

Can the association classify trainees and graduates separately? Yes, you arrange that as separate groups per course level or qualification, for example resuscitation or AED.

Can members be warned in time about an expiring certificate? Yes, with a reminder sent at any desired moment before the expiry date.

Can the membership fee include a separate contribution for materials? Yes, you can set that up via the membership plan, for example with a fixed amount plus a material contribution per term.

Set up the next external request for your association as a schedule with slots and a deadline, and let members sign up themselves instead of calling them afterwards.