Highland Park, Texas

[firetender]

In another thread the OP states:

I'm moving to the Dallas, TX area so if anything I'm going to try to get on with Highland Park . They send their employees to the police academy , Paramedic school and Firefighter program . They are all cross trained so one day you will be a police officer and the next you will be a Paramedic

I've not heard of this system and am quite curious about how that works out for the medics.

Anyone here been there done that?

 

[nremtjohn]

Not So Fast

I retired from the Dallas PD, so I am familiar with Highland Park's operations. Highland Park is a very wealthy enclave that is surrounded by Dallas. It is located near Southern Methodist University. Because of the pay and benefits, they do not hire people who are not already certified as police officers or firefighters in the state of Texas.

Basically, the way this system works is this. If there is a structure fire, the personnel who are manning the equipment to the scene, and the personnel working the street as police go to the scene, get into their turnout gear and fight the fire. For EMS calls, the personnel on the street are often close to the call and they respond as "first responders" until the medic unit arrives.

If you enjoy working around and with the filthy rich, it's a good place to work. If not, you might look elsewhere. DFW Airport Public Safety also utilizes cross-trained personnel and they are a better department to work for.

 

[Shishkabob]

Ahh, Highland Park... the agency I want to get on with. They get some nice toys due to their... errmm... clientele. Big money in that area.

They typically require a Bachelors, but when I spoke with several of their members at Parkland last fall, they said they dropped the requirement to an Associates so long as you get the Bachelors within 2 years. (Though their website doesn't reflect this)

 

[AJ Hidell]

Good info already given. EMS is pretty low quality. None of them have any primary interest in medicine. It's the same patch factory that DFD sends their people to, and same medical director. Ugh. Career wise, it's a great agency. Splitting your time delays burn-out. But medically, it's not significantly better than the rest of Dallas County.

Openings are rare and have hundreds of very qualified applicants.

 

[Shishkabob]

You get east of Arlington and west of Terrel and all you'll find it FD based EMS that doesn't care about medicine.


I swear, if I get in an accident anywhere in Dallas county, I'm crawling my butt to Parkland or Baylor, whichever is closer (preferably Baylor)

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

There are a few departments that run this way. I know of one in Ohio and another in florida I believe. Not sure how cost effective it is, but I do understand that if it's run right your guys don't tire as easily...