911 EMT's Bay Area

[Giobobo1]

I was wondering which companies in the Bay Area (and surrounding) take in EMT's into their ALS side? I guess in other words which companies in the area should one apply to either be on the ALS rig or just get your foot in the door to get there?

 

[Aprz]

ALS doesn't mean 911, but most (if not all) 911 agencies are ALS-only in the San Francisco Bay Area. Outside of the Bay Area, a lot of agencies are both BLS and ALS, and will send BLS ambulances to 911 calls. I've heard Paramedics Plus used to send BLS ambulances (Patient Plus, a division of Paramedics Plus) to *alpha (and bravo?) level calls in Oakland, CA, but I am unsure about their status right now as a division and if they really did that. Maybe somebody from the forum like Glycol and can confirm this.

*Look up Medical Priority Dispatching System.

Alameda County - Paramedics Plus (San Leandro, Fremont/Newark)
Santa Clara County - County Ambulance (operated by Rural/Metro in San Jose, not Milpitas or Hayward)
Contra Costa County - American Medical Response (Concord)
San Mateo County - American Medical Response (San Mateo)
San Francisco - San Francisco Fire Department -> American Medical Response (San Francisco) -> King Ambulance
Sonoma County - American Medical Response (Santa Rosa)

Often, these companies are near impossible to get hired at, or like a lottery. Many people will work at an interfacility transfer (IFT) only company for several years before they are lucky enough to get hired at one of these companies. Santa Clara County Ambulance (operated by Rural/Metro in San Jose) recently had 10 open EMT positions. From what I was told, over 300 people applied.

Now once again, just because it's ALS doesn't mean it's 911. In fact, ALS ambulances are becoming more popular with IFT-only companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. I know that Rural/Metro Ambulance, ProTransport-1, and Silicon Valley Ambulances have ALS ambulances. Maybe Westmed Ambulance too? Wouldn't be surprised if more. In Alameda county, Rural/Metro has Critical Care Paramedics. Most IFT-only ambulance companies have critical care transport (CCT) ambulances that are staffed with two EMTs and one RN, which is able to respond to calls that may require the skill level of a paramedics or more.

If you get hired at an IFT-only ambulance company, it may be difficult to get on an ALS or CCT-only shift. These shifts are often reserved for people with more seniority often with more experience. For awhile, my company REQUIRED that you had at least 1 year of experience before you were allowed to even work on an ALS, CCT, or NICU/PICU shift.

If this is your first time looking for an EMT job, I advise that you apply everywhere. It can be very difficult to get an EMT job, and limiting yourself will not help. I made the mistake of limiting myself too, and slowly started applying to other ambulance companies. It took me 13 months to get my first EMT job. I've been working as an EMT on an ambulance for 2 years now, the last year and a half almost exclusively on ALS, CCT, NICU/PICU rigs, interviewed for two 911 jobs, and was not successful getting either one. You will be competing against me and many others who have the same story as me for those 911 EMT jobs, and they usually have very few open positions (like 1-10). These EMTs will likely know the protocols and policies for that county better than you, know the roads better than you, know where the hospitals are at (including their doors codes and what they are capable of), what the equipment looks like, how to use a gurney, etc. It will be very difficult to make your case as a brand new EMT that you should work 911 before these guys.

Good luck.

Edit: I'd like to add that if you apply for Rural/Metro in Milpitas or Hayward, you will not be allowed to even interview for a 911 EMT position for at least a year, and when you do interview, you will be competing with other EMTs who don't work at Rural/Metro for the same position, they will have no preference for you even though you are already an employee. You can't just lateral over there/transfer division. You have to apply and interview like everyone else, and you may still not be selected. If you get hired there, you will not be putting your foot in the door, and most people who work there believe it actually hurts your chance of getting hired at the 911 division. :[ They aren't a bad company to work, and it's still hard to get hired for 911 regardless of having 1+ years experience somewhere else. I used to work for ProTransport-1 prior, and although I left ProTransport-1 on good terms, I like Rural/Metro more, but at the same time, I probably wouldn't have gone to Rural/Metro had I known about the 1 year thing, and I am always very sad to see and talk with my friends who used to work at ProTransport-1 with me now working at Santa Clara County Ambulance.