# AMR Victorville



## Francisco (Sep 6, 2017)

Anyone worked here before that can me give me some insight about what kind of shifts are offered there ? Coverage area ? And etc. Any information will be appreciated thanks in advance.


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 6, 2017)

I don’t work there but I know they are on 12s


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## CALEMT (Sep 6, 2017)

3 on 4 off one week then 4 on 3 off the next. Relationship with SBCoFD in that area is rocky at best. Busy division, people in my medic class complain about having to go "up the hill" every shift to runs calls in VV. Same boat as DesertMedic66, I don't work there.


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## CTMD (Sep 8, 2017)

I'm a medic in VV. We do 8s, 12s, and 24s. Full time ALS positions are either 12s or 24s. We have 4 24 hour stations but have approximately 7 24 hour shifts. We also have what are called "power cars" which are incentive OT (12 and 24hr) shifts. Both medic and EMT get double time and if you run 5 transports you get to go home early with a full 12 hours of DT. 
 We cover Victorville, Apple Valley, Adelanto and Helendale. We also have weird little pockets in Phelan and cover El Mirage all the way out to the LA County line. 
At the end of the day it's an AMR operation in SoCal but it's definitely not the worst place in the world to work. Our supervisors are super cool and don't really play the Corporate game with us. They don't look for ways to get you in trouble and will have your back even if it means angering Fire. As long as you were in the right that is. 

The two departments we deal with are County Fire and Apple Valley. County Fire definitely has a bad repuation but not every crew is terrible and there are a couple of good medics out there. Apple Valley Fire is a little bit easier to get along with and there seems to be a little more pride in their work but is still far from perfect. One thing that is unique about the High Desert ops is that Fire usually couldn't care less about running calls so there is very little of butting heads. AMR runs the show and if Fire starts throwing attitude and AMR doesn't back down, no discipline falls on the AMR crew. Assuming they handle the situation professionally. This is way different from how AMR Rancho operates where if Fire complains, the AMR crew is in the hot seat. 

We only have three hospitals up in the Desert and none of them are bases so we only really call base when we absolutely have to. Which is nice on the medic side of things. 

The area is pretty rural and impoverished so you get pretty decent calls and some genuinely sick patients. We get a lot of traumas and TCs but also do a butt load of LDTs to the Kaisers. 

Equipment is meh. We're getting transits but have almost all power cots and we use LP15s. 

As with any operation we have some awesome medics and EMTs as well as some real dingleberries. It is a small operation so there can be some drama but if you keep your nose out of it then you will be just fine. 
In the end, a lot of the negativity you hear about the op comes from Lifers at Victorville who always see the grass as greener and don't really have much to compare this operation by. Or they're 15-20 year employees who whine and complain about how things use to be and can't adjust to the times. There's a lot of salt but it isn't as bad as what everyone makes it out to be. 

Feel free to ask anymore questions that you may have about the operation


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## RocketMedic (Sep 8, 2017)

How's the pay?


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## wtferick (Sep 8, 2017)

What RocketMedic asked [:


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## GMCmedic (Sep 8, 2017)

CALEMT said:


> 3 on 4 off one week then 4 on 3 off the next. Relationship with SBCoFD in that area is rocky at best. Busy division, people in my medic class complain about having to go "up the hill" every shift to runs calls in VV. Same boat as DesertMedic66, I don't work there.


I remember 5 years ago our local AMR ops manager said corporate decided nobody can run that schedule anymore. Funny that the #1 complaint from employees is that they want that schedule back. People still got held over. They just got held over fewer days.

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## CALEMT (Sep 8, 2017)

GMCmedic said:


> I remember 5 years ago our local AMR ops manager said corporate decided nobody can run that schedule anymore. Funny that the #1 complaint from employees is that they want that schedule back. People still got held over. They just got held over fewer days.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk



If you're gonna work 12's I like that "rotating" day every other week. I'm part time so I don't really care just as long as I can pick up shifts.


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## GMCmedic (Sep 8, 2017)

CALEMT said:


> If you're gonna work 12's I like that "rotating" day every other week. I'm part time so I don't really care just as long as I can pick up shifts.


That is what we worked at the time. Just thought it was funny that she used "because corporate said so" as an excuse. 



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## CTMD (Sep 8, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> How's the pay?


Starting pay for a new medic with 0 experience is 17.07 for a 12. 20.91 for an 8 and 13. something for a 24. OT after 8 for an 8 or 12. OT after 40 for a 24. 
Starting EMT pay is 10.88.

We do the 4:3, 3:4 split for 12s and 24s are on set days.


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## RocketMedic (Sep 9, 2017)

With CA state taxes? That sounds _terrible_. Here in Texas, I'm at $21.50 an hour, regardless of schedule, and that's Houston-normal. Most medics out here are taking home around $50k.


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## CTMD (Sep 9, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> With CA state taxes? That sounds _terrible_. Here in Texas, I'm at $21.50 an hour, regardless of schedule, and that's Houston-normal. Most medics out here are taking home around $50k.


I agree. Could be worse. AMR literally gave us a raise just because in an attmept to improve staffing. We went from 15.17 to 17.07 which was nice but did nothing to improve the staffing.


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## terrible one (Sep 11, 2017)

I used to work AMR VV back in the day. Wasn't a terrible spot to be at. But I could not stand county fire! Too bad Hesperia and Victorville don't form a district with apple valley or something. I heard they used to be good depts to work with before they went county. Oh well.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 11, 2017)

I can remember when the majority of rural Inland Empire's departments were BLS. Even Redlands had one SBCoFD station left in their coverage area that was staffed at the BLS level.

What's so bad about SBCoFD up that way these days? Seriously, I have no idea.


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## CALEMT (Sep 11, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> What's so bad about SBCoFD up that way these days? Seriously, I have no idea.



Per classmates SBCoFD paramedics make LACoFD look like doctors. Poor treatments and poor attitudes.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 11, 2017)

CALEMT said:


> SBCoFD paramedics make LACoFD look like doctors.


Remarkable.


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## CALEMT (Sep 11, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> Remarkable.



My experience with them is limited to my 3 clinical shifts at Arrowhead Regional and a MCI training. I remember them bringing in a full arrest, unk down time, persistent asystole, 5mg epi on board, and tube with capno of like 5 oh and there was lividity. Meets the criterial for field termination. Why they transported the person I have no idea. Granted everywhere has bad and good medics, but from what I've witnessed with my limited experience with them I'm starting to believe my classmates rumors are indeed valid.


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## terrible one (Sep 11, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> I can remember when the majority of rural Inland Empire's departments were BLS. Even Redlands had one SBCoFD station left in their coverage area that was staffed at the BLS level.
> 
> What's so bad about SBCoFD up that way these days? Seriously, I have no idea.




Terrible attitudes, poor patient care, the worst bedside manners, and for whatever reason they don't seem to play well with others on medical aides, fires, rescues, etc...

I've worked with them on calls as both a private medic and a firefighter. My feelings are shared by plenty of co-workers/colleagues. Where their sense of entitlement came from I don't know since they are a relatively new FD having only existed since 1998/1999.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 11, 2017)

They only covered a handful of unincorporated cities at the division I was at. Muscoy was the closest "County Fire" station to ours, and nothing out of the ordinary stands out when comparing them to, say, LACoFD.

I had an EMT partner who echoed similar sentiments about OCFA's fire medics. I imagine we're splitting hairs at this point.

I will say, I can't imagine that SBCoFD's approach to medicine has improved since taking over San Bernardino City, but again, I wouldn't know for sure. I do know that this city, and it's volume, put Compton to shame.


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## terrible one (Sep 11, 2017)

I've worked in 5 different socal counties in various first responder roles, and probably with close to 50 different fire agencies. I can tell you by far my least favorite to deal with on scene is San Bernardino County Fire.


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## Qulevrius (Sep 13, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> Remarkable.



You probably never had to deal with OCFA then.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 13, 2017)

Qulevrius said:


> You probably never had to deal with OCFA then.


I worked one or two shifts with CARE in their OC area years ago. Like @terrible one I've worked with many different SoCal FD's over the years, and quite honestly they all blended together after a while.


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## Qulevrius (Sep 13, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> I worked one or two shifts with CARE in their OC area years ago. Like @terrible one I've worked with many different SoCal FD's over the years, and quite honestly they all blended together after a while.



I will forever have a special place in my gall bladder for OCFA. A _very_ special place.


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## RocketMedic (Sep 14, 2017)

That honestly sounds terrible to deal with. Any particular fire-medic horror stories?


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## Qulevrius (Sep 14, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> That honestly sounds terrible to deal with. Any particular fire-medic horror stories?



A fire medic who won't give a bolus to a 20 y.o., heavily intoxicated female, because 'how else would she learn'. That just off the top of my head. Does that qualify ?


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## CTMD (Sep 14, 2017)

Had a county medic slam 10mg Versed IV for a seizure and then ask later what the dose was. For SB county it's 2.5 repeated twice. They will sit in their station and wait until they see AMR to drive by before responding to a call. Had a 40 y/o F altered OD on morphine, norcos and a butt load of ETOH, taching out @ 120-130 with a blood pressure of 60 and they had no intention of treating. Witnessed arrest and they will do 1 handed compressions and state "just going through the motions baby". There have been small MCIs from TCs with maybe like 4-5 patients, 2 will be dead and they will be working on the dead ones while there are 3 others, altered and circling the drain. They then expect the first AMR units on scene to transport the already dead patients and leave the ones still alive until secondary units respond. I could fill a book with County Fire Horror stories. 
I never interacted with LaCoFD but from what I hear from friends who work in LA, I don't know how much worse SBCoFD could be. LACoFD is in a whole other league of terrible pt care. At least AMR has medics on every box who can challenge and fix Fire's mistakes in San Bernardino.


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## CTMD (Sep 14, 2017)

County Fire will be first on scene and most of the time we're lucky if they brought their tablet in. They hardly ever pull their own equipment. Most of their assesments are "What's your name? What's wrong? What hospital would you like to go to? Ok, AMR will be here in a minute". There have been 20 year old patients with chest pain and two questions after asking about their chest pain, County will try and give ASA & Nitro. 
There are a handful of good medics out there but for the most part it's a nightmare running with County. Some of their new Probies are pretty decent so hopefully a new attitude and culture will develop within the department but I'm not optimistic.


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## RocketMedic (Sep 14, 2017)

Wow. I take it no one in positions of authority cares?


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## Qulevrius (Sep 14, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> Wow. I take it no one in positions of authority cares?



Why would they ? We're talking about decades of tradition which raised and shaped the F'd up 'culture' of 99% of FD's in SoCal. And there's no end in sight, since the newer generations are drinking the exact same Kool Aid.


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## CTMD (Sep 14, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> Wow. I take it no one in positions of authority cares?


Nope. It's all in how you document and I assume that they're smart enough to not hang themselves in their paperwork. I only make that assumption because I still see the same medics everyday and they're still operating as medics. ICEMA does random audits from time to time but it seems like the only ones who get disciplined are on the AMR side. But in all fairness I don't know how their QI process works.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 15, 2017)

Our county and city fire departments have been trying to go ALS for years now. Will it happen one day? My opinion is...most likely.

I live in a fire-based state plain and simple. It has forced me to realize two things:

1. I can relocate out of state (highly unlikely).

2. I can segue into another vocation/ career and retire from this field when my body can--inevitably--do this no longer.

None of the above posts surprise me, or are new to me. It merely confirms I chose the wrong profession for my state. It also makes me glad I continue to refuse to let my work, or job title define who I am.


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## wtferick (Sep 15, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> Our county and city fire departments have been trying to go ALS for years now. Will it happen one day? My opinion is...most likely.
> 
> I live in a fire-based state plain and simple. It has forced me to realize two things:
> 
> ...


Very well said.


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## RocketMedic (Sep 15, 2017)

I take it the AMR/Fire relationship is a "yes, master?" one?


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## CALEMT (Sep 15, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> I take it the AMR/Fire relationship is a "yes, master?" one?



Not necessarily. Depends on the county you work in.


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## terrible one (Sep 15, 2017)

Echoing what CTMD said, they'll get on scene first and bring no equipment in. At night they'll just wait in the engine for AMR to show up and then maybe send one FF in to check if AMR needs help. Even if AMR does need help they won't always assist. The only next step to not caring would be I could see is if they just didn't show up to calls at all. The apathy couldn't be more apparent.


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## RocketMedic (Sep 15, 2017)

Wow. Someone really ought to clean house there.


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## CTMD (Sep 17, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> I take it the AMR/Fire relationship is a "yes, master?" one?


Not in Victorville. We generally try and play nice with each other but will disagree quite often. As the AMR medic I do what I want no matter what fire says and if they want to complain, good luck. All my sups have my back and will almost always stand with their crews.


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## CTMD (Sep 17, 2017)

Can't tell you how many times Fire has tried to throw their weight with AMR crews and AMR will just say "last I checked, County Fire doesn't sign my paychecks". They love that reply lol


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## CALEMT (Sep 17, 2017)

CTMD said:


> "last I checked, County Fire doesn't sign my paychecks". They love that reply lol



If I have a crew doing that to me I just say "you're not my boss, I don't work for you". It rarely gets used but has the same effect.


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## RocketMedic (Sep 17, 2017)

So who is in charge of scenes there?


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## VentMonkey (Sep 17, 2017)

Was this all perpetuated by them trying to take over transports? Also, what puppy mill keeps passing these goons?

I want to say that area hasn't had ALS engines too terribly long, and Apple Valley Fire hasn't had paramedics that long either.


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## CALEMT (Sep 17, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> Also, what puppy mill keeps passing these goons?



I think terrible one said it best, personally I don't think its any particular fire academy or medic school. I think they are just drinking some next level Kool-Aid and thinking they're the LAFD of San Bernardino county. 



terrible one said:


> Where their sense of entitlement came from I don't know since they are a relatively new FD having only existed since 1998/1999.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 17, 2017)

CALEMT said:


> I think terrible one said it best, personally I don't think its any particular fire academy or medic school. I think they are just drinking some next level Kool-Aid and thinking they're the LAFD of San Bernardino county.


Right, but typically when this is seen the EMS culture internally is non-existent. Case and point: LACoFD, these guys have zero drive to provide medical aids, sure. They also have no one that seemingly holds them accountable, or responsible for their actions.

If I had to guess, this would be the culture of this department as well. Again, not at all uncommon with large SoCal departments. Truly sad how much wool has been, and is endlessly, pulled over the general publics eyes.


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## CTMD (Sep 18, 2017)

RocketMedic said:


> So who is in charge of scenes there?


The first medic on scene has control but usually County Fire can't wait to leave so as soon as we show up they give us a quick report and bounce.


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## CTMD (Sep 18, 2017)

CALEMT said:


> I think terrible one said it best, personally I don't think its any particular fire academy or medic school. I think they are just drinking some next level Kool-Aid and thinking they're the LAFD of San Bernardino county.


 I think they honestly just don't care. I'd say 60% are there for the paycheck, 30% because they like the department and like 10% probably want to help the public and be a pillar in the community. They don't always have this huge arrogant attitude like LA departments, they just genuinely couldn't care less about what they're doing. Most do not live in the city they serve and so they have no pride in their work or sense of community. It's way different with the city departments down the hill like Rancho or Chino Fire. Different issues but at least those departments actually make an effort to render adequate patient care


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## MunchkinMedic (Sep 19, 2017)

I worked for AMR Victorville for 4 years. A very long 4 years until I went out on disability . I had a great working relationship with SBCoFD. It took a month or two but once they realized they weren't going to be able to walk all over the new girl, we gained a mutual understanding & respect for each other so very rarely were the drag our *** getting out of the stations games or slacking on scene ******** pulled. Hell, I took a medic from 312s with me all the way down to Loma Linda and didn't get any **** for it. I've also worked in LA county & OC. I did my internship with LAFD. If I had a choice, I'd probably choose to work with SBCOFD again.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 19, 2017)

MunchkinMedic said:


> I worked for AMR Victorville for 4 years. A very long 4 years until I went out on disability . I had a great working relationship with SBCoFD. It took a month or two but once they realized they weren't going to be able to walk all over the new girl, we gained a mutual understanding & respect for each other so very rarely were the drag our *** getting out of the stations games or slacking on scene ******** pulled. Hell, I took a medic from 312s with me all the way down to Loma Linda and didn't get any **** for it. I've also worked in LA county & OC. I did my internship with LAFD. If I had a choice, I'd probably choose to work with SBCOFD again.


This is unfortunate, and makes me miss nothing about field work 2-3 hours south or east of me. 

Also, there are much better choices than either of those areas.


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## MunchkinMedic (Sep 19, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> This is unfortunate, and makes me miss nothing about field work 2-3 hours south or east of me.
> 
> Also, there are much better choices than either of those areas.




I moved out of state to AZ and have debated renewing my P Card and jumping through all the hoops to get my NREMT again so I can get my AZ card to work very part time but it's too much money & not really worth it in the long run. My ex works in Bakersfield & keeps pestering me to come work with him, but I'm kinda happy being a state away from him. It'd be legit to work there, but there's no way I could work anywhere near him, if what I hear is true & most rumors ive heard are


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## CTMD (Sep 20, 2017)

In all fairness there are some County medics I do like working with and would trust on a legit call over some AMR medics. We've had an AMR medic take a chest pain patient who was a STEMI 50 miles down the hill bypassing 4 STEMI centers only to later code enroute to a STEMI center once Kaiser did the first 12 lead. (Kaiser is not a STEMI center and no 12 lead was done in the field). The same medic would then brag about them forcing fire to do everything on legit calls when in reality they were just spinning on scene and didn't know what to do. So AMR is far from perfect and there are good and bad medics everywhere but I've just had more bad than good with County


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## RocketMedic (Sep 21, 2017)

Wow. That is sad to hear. Here, Fire is mostly first responder only and actually likes to play


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## GMCmedic (Sep 21, 2017)

Geeze. If I made it a day in California it would be a miracle. 

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## Akulahawk (Sep 22, 2017)

I had to clean some this thread up of late. Keep things civil.


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