So I recently acquired my EMT-B license and have been on an application journey. I've filled out applications for every company I could find in and around chicago MedEx, Vanderberg, ATI, Superior, 1st Response, Advanced, Pulse thee's some more in there that I can't remember at the moment. I was wondering if anyone knew about any other companies that I could apply for? I don't wanna leave out anything
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Chicago Companies
- Thread starter theBRUCE
- Start date
Advantage, Kurtz, and Trace are a few others. As mentioned, the ER tech route isn't a bad one to pursue either, even if you land an EMT stop with an ambo. The pay is generally better and you usually have a slightly expanded scope working in the ER as an EMT-B than out in the field.
Superior is, of course, the biggest company in the area. They run multiple stations all over northern Illinois that you can work out of.So I recently acquired my EMT-B license and have been on an application journey. I've filled out applications for every company I could find in and around chicago MedEx, Vanderberg, ATI, Superior, 1st Response, Advanced, Pulse thee's some more in there that I can't remember at the moment. I was wondering if anyone knew about any other companies that I could apply for? I don't wanna leave out anything
MedEx is located in Skokie (I believe) and they have a new station on the near west side. They do a lot of city/north side work, and I believe they have the Children's Memorial contract.
ATI works out of 28th and Stewart in Bridgeport. Their big contract is the county system, so you would be spending a lot of time at Stroger, Provident, and would sometimes make trips down to Oak Forest Hospital. They do a lot of inner-city stuff, not always in the best areas.
Advance is also a north side company. They do a lot of work on the near north side an northern suburbs, and a lot of work at Lutheran General.
Midwest Ambulance is a fairly new company. They're based out of Skokie, but I've seen them all over, even as far as Little Company of Mary and Christ down on 95th Street.
Lifeline works all over the city. Their garage is down by Mercy, like 24th and Wabash.
Bud's works the southern suburbs, around the Ingalls Hospital area. Their medics do 911 for a little over a dozen municipalities down there, and I know their ALS rigs respond on some MABAS box cards. Their garage is on 147th in Dolton.
Precise is based out of Chicago Ridge and I hear they have a new garage somewhere in Mokena. They're mainly a southwest suburban company, but I've seen them around the south and near west sides of the city.
Trace has their garage and offices in Tinley Park. They do Tinley 911 and Crestwood 911 transports. They run up to 27 rigs per day (not counting the Tinley 911 rigs) and mainly work the Palos/Oak Lawn areas. Trace only does suburbs-to-suburbs or suburbs-to-city work; they do not run calls solely within the city of Chicago.
Vandenberg runs up to 7 ALS and 18 BLS rigs per day. They are Trace's sister company; they share the same garage, same office, etc., so you start your day at their garage in Tinley Park and then work the city and near western suburbs, which is kind of weird. Vandenberg has the Jesse Brown and Hines VA hospital contracts.
Kurtz is based out of New Lenox. They do a lot of work around the Joliet hospitals. Their ALS does 911 for Rockdale, and they also staff the Provena St. Mary's Kankakee rigs. Kurtz has multiple stations/quarters around the Joliet area.
Systems:
Region 7 EMS: Trace (Ingalls), Kurtz (Silver Cross), Bud's (probably Ingalls), and I'm sure Precise is in R7 as well.
Region 11 (Chicago) EMS: Vandenberg, ATI (both University of Chicago), probably Lifeline as well.
I'm not sure which regions the rest of the companies work out of. Probably regions 8, 9, or 10.
Basically, decide where you want to work, and shoot for those companies. You're not going to be happy if you're working a part of the region you don't want to be in.
My suggestions: your top choices should be Superior for the city or western suburbs, MedEx for the city or the northern suburbs and Kurtz or Trace for the southern suburbs.
Keep in mind as well: if you wind up working for a Region 11 company, you're in Chicago's system, which is very antiquated and slow to change. For instance, Region 7 BLS has carried NTG, ASA, EPI, and albuterol for some time now. Region 11 JUST added albuterol and ASA to their SMOs this year, which are the only drugs they carry besides O2 and glucopaste.
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Something else to keep in mind: if you work in the city, you are going to be using your stairchair a LOT.
Don't get me wrong; you're going to stairchair PTs in the suburbs as well. But in Chicago, nearly EVERY residence has stairs. It's fine if you have one of the nice new Stryker chairs, but when you have ratty old Fernos without handles and dispatch doesn't want to send you a lift assist for a 350 pound guy who lives on the third floor, your back is going to get torn to shreds.
You're also going to run into a large number of people who don't understand why you can't carry their family member down four flights of stairs on the cot and around corners that the cot can't possibly turn...
Don't get me wrong; you're going to stairchair PTs in the suburbs as well. But in Chicago, nearly EVERY residence has stairs. It's fine if you have one of the nice new Stryker chairs, but when you have ratty old Fernos without handles and dispatch doesn't want to send you a lift assist for a 350 pound guy who lives on the third floor, your back is going to get torn to shreds.
You're also going to run into a large number of people who don't understand why you can't carry their family member down four flights of stairs on the cot and around corners that the cot can't possibly turn...
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Do companies allow you to work for more than one at a time? Like, say, if they operate in different regions and different medical systems and thus aren't directly competing with each other? Work for one full-time and pick up part-time shifts with another? Just curious if anyone knows.