# 911 or Transport?



## Shepard (Sep 6, 2012)

A buddy of mine got a job offer from two different companies and is wondering what to do. I figured I'd ask the EMTLife community and see what the concensus is. So: one job is a 911 private ambulance service located 1.5 hours from him. They handle a lower volume of calls (I don't know the exact number). The other company is a transport company that does transports throughout the county and in the surrounding counties. They are located an hour from him. So. What would you do? 911 low volume longer commute or transport higher volume slightly shorter commute?


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## ToyotaTruck (Sep 6, 2012)

I would pick 911(wouldnt everybody?). If he is working 24 hour shifts then he will only have to commute 2 or 3 times a week.


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 6, 2012)

There are a lot of factors. What is the pay at the jobs? What is traffic like going to both jobs? What kind of schedules do they provide? Benefits at either of them? How are the different companies operated? Do current employees like it there? The good and the bad from both. Then what does your buddy want? Does he want a 911 job or does he want an IFT job?

Just because one job is further away doesn't really mean much. We have employees who drive 2-3 hours one way for my company. They pay is pretty good for the area but they really like it here and don't want to leave despite the fact there are 10 ambulance companies closer to them.


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## mike1390 (Sep 6, 2012)

who pays more??? For as little as he will be making every penny counts.


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## Shepard (Sep 6, 2012)

Great questions all. Thank you, I'll ask him about that. I'm pretty sure the commute doesn't matter in the slightest. He'll probably be going with the IFT company because of the equipment and the opportunity. AMR pulls heavily from the IFT company.


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## CalMedic (Sep 7, 2012)

Does he want to be a medic. If so 911. You will still most likely get plenty of transfer experience plus you work side by side with medics and see how its done. The cases I hear of interns struggling is because they cant catch onto the flow of a call and know when to hurry and when to sit back and ask questions. Yes there is other factors but id go 911. Day in Day out transfers get old fast.


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## Trashtruck (Sep 7, 2012)

Tell him to do 911.
From what you say, it's a low-volume system, which means he may be doing IFT as well.
If it's strictly 911, take it. If he doesn't like it, there are transport jobs everywhere.


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## CBentz12 (Sep 8, 2012)

County shifts as we call them at my job are cool to pick up every now and then but eventually you WILL get bored of it. On 911 calls you get to see some crazy stuff and meet with FF and police officers which in turn can help you later on in life with future job opportunities. Plus some times you will get called to a 911 call by yourself and get an ALS PT which you then have to make decision to either A) Rapid Transport w/ L&S or B) Call ALS and make PT comfortable until ALS arrival. 

Sometimes Fire will tell you to run L&S too which is always fun and other times you will take a "BLS" PT and it turns into a ALS PT prompting you to run L&S. Personally 911 is much more interesting and your able to use your EMT skills a lot more.


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## indpndntrd (Sep 9, 2012)

Sorry to steal from the post, but I have an unrelated question...

How much experience do you generally need from an IFT BLS job before having a chance at getting a 911 EMT job? I've heard everything from 3-4 months to as much as 2 years. I'd love to hear from people here on the forum. This is assuming you work ~30-40hrs a wk at a high volume IFT company. I am located in the SF Bay Area and the local 911 companies include AMR (Contra Costa and San Francisco County) and Paramedic Plus (Alameda County). 

Thanks in advance.


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 9, 2012)

indpndntrd said:


> Sorry to steal from the post, but I have an unrelated question...
> 
> How much experience do you generally need from an IFT BLS job before having a chance at getting a 911 EMT job? I've heard everything from 3-4 months to as much as 2 years. I'd love to hear from people here on the forum. This is assuming you work ~30-40hrs a wk at a high volume IFT company. I am located in the SF Bay Area and the local 911 companies include AMR (Contra Costa and San Francisco County) and Paramedic Plus (Alameda County).
> 
> Thanks in advance.



Zero experience. I came into a 911 job 3 months after I finished EMT school with no experience (no job experience at all). I know many other EMTs who have no experience who got hired on at 911 companies.


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## SACfire59 (Sep 10, 2012)

Hey everyone just joined EMT life today. I just got my national registry today and was just wondering what were some of the ambulance companies in southern CA that have 911 contracts?


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## Shepard (Sep 10, 2012)

CBentz12 said:


> Plus some times you will get called to a 911 call by yourself and get an ALS PT which you then have to make decision to either A) Rapid Transport w/ L&S or B) Call ALS and make PT comfortable until ALS arrival.
> 
> Sometimes Fire will tell you to run L&S too which is always fun and other times you will take a "BLS" PT and it turns into a ALS PT prompting you to run L&S. Personally 911 is much more interesting and your able to use your EMT skills a lot more.



We run all AlS ambulances here, medic and EMT per ambulance. But all valid points.


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## energystar (Sep 10, 2012)

Sacfire

There are quite a few. Care, Doctor's, Medix, AMR, Schaeffer, McCormick, Americare, Shoreline, Gerber? There are also many fire departments that hire EMTs as Ambulance Operators. Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Downey, Compton to name a few all have AO programs.


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