# Emerald City Ambulance - Seattle



## PNW EMT (Jun 5, 2013)

Just saw this ad on Craigslist:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/hea/3838836402.html

Has anyone heard about this company or know anything about this start up?


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## PotatoMedic (Jun 5, 2013)

Interesting...  No have not heard of them or even about them.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  Already have AMR, Rural, Trimed, (and the new guys FALCK).  Really think we need a 5th Ambulance company in the area?


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## PNW EMT (Jun 5, 2013)

There is probably enough business to go around however I imagine it will be hard for a small start up to gain any traction in this area. I remember when Pro-Transport 1 tried to do a start up in this area without doing their homework first and that lasted all of what 6 months?


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## PotatoMedic (Jun 5, 2013)

Yeah I guess they might be able to find a little part of king county to play in.  It will be interesting.  I will ask my supervisors tomorrow if they know anything about them tomorrow.


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## RevShaw56 (Jun 13, 2013)

Interesting. Any updates on this?


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## waaaemt (Jul 4, 2013)

I saw their 2 ambulances in a holding lot in West Seattle the other day. Old rigs  from the 90s but with shiny new paint jobs, top half is white, bottom half in green, and with the Washington State flag on the cab doors.
The van rig is this year Ford: 

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g205/elightbars/mxstrb.jpg

but in a van form. 

And the mod rig is a 90's dodge ram 4x4. 

It'll be interesting to see what happens with these guys.


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## waaaemt (Jul 4, 2013)

p.s. i have a feeling this is "singularity medical transport" rebranded...if any of you heard of that.. http://singularitymedtrans.com/


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## RMEMT (Jul 14, 2013)

I had interviewed with them. Was offered a position but backed out because I was afraid to work for such a new company. They aren't certified to run 911 calls, only inner facility transports. I guess it may be good for a new EMT with no experience living at home with parents. I have years of experience and have bills and a family to support. I can't be worrying about if my paycheck will bounce or one day go to work just to be told I'm out of a job.


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## Beatingheart (Jul 26, 2013)

*Emerald City Ambulance Company*

Do not compromise yourself and interview with Emerald City Ambulance Company - they are terrible and it is a total waste of time. When I interviewed I found them to be unprepared, unprofessional and borderline sexist. Personally, I would never put myself in a position to have my license compromised by being affiliated with such a company and I would encourage my fellow EMTs to think twice.


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## NomadicMedic (Jul 26, 2013)

Interesting first post.


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## Beatingheart (Jul 26, 2013)

DEmedic - I don't want to seem brash, but the only reason I signed up to this blog was to post that very comment in hopes of saving someone else the trouble. The interview was a train wreck from start to finish; I literally thought at one point someone was playing a joke on me. Can't win 'em all, huh?


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## PotatoMedic (Jul 26, 2013)

What else can you tell us about the company?


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## NomadicMedic (Jul 26, 2013)

We don't know much about Emerald City Ambulance. I know they're trying to scoop up some of the IFT business that is over flow from the other companies, but we haven't heard from anyone who's actually working there. 

Did you send an email to the general manager or owner detailing your experience. That might be feedback they'd be interested in.


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## firewall (Aug 2, 2013)

*accepted*

I just accepted a position with them.  I'm interested to see how they turn out.


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## PotatoMedic (Aug 2, 2013)

Let us know about them.  They really are an unknown.  How was the interview?


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## CascadesWEMT (Sep 13, 2013)

*Interviewing*

firewall - Do you have any more information about the company? I'm interviewing with them next week.


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## ChocoEMT (Sep 29, 2013)

*Emerald City Ambulance*

These guys are California Ambulance ans have expanded into Seattle. They say they "All of our staff is well trained, professional" That's VERY questionable with some of the folks they've hired. They must not know that our community although huge it's also same and word gets out very quickly. Well good luck to them.


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## PotatoMedic (Dec 17, 2013)

Seems that have a website now!

http://www.emeraldcityambulance.com/home.html

Rumor has it they crashed one of their ambulances into a City of Seattle vehicle on the first day.


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## waaaemt (Jan 28, 2014)

Sounds like they shut down!


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## PotatoMedic (Jan 28, 2014)

Good!  We don't need any of the Cali medicare fraud up here.  We have enough of our own problems.

Where did you here that?


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## Drax (Jan 29, 2014)

FireWA1 said:


> Good!  We don't need any of the Cali medicare fraud up here.  We have enough of our own problems.
> 
> Where did you here that?



Hmmm, applied but never heard back from them. Felt weird e-mailing a resume, let alone without an application.


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## yowzer (Jan 29, 2014)

waaaemt said:


> Sounds like they shut down!



A couple of months ago, their one ambulance went from 24/7 to limited weekday business hours and most of the staff got laid off because they weren't getting enough business. So, not really surprised to hear this.

It's a hard market to break into, with 3 big companies that have been around for ages having a corner on contracts and brand recognition. When ProTransport-1 tried, they didn't last more than a few years before closing up. I think the only reason Falck, the other attempt to expand here in recent times, is still around is because it's backed by such a huge company.


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 29, 2014)

PT-1 had bigger issues in Seattle. They couldn't survive on the AMR scraps and Swedish Ballard discharges. I was also not surprised to see Emerald City folded.


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## waaaemt (Jan 30, 2014)

FireWA1 said:


> Good!  We don't need any of the Cali medicare fraud up here.  We have enough of our own problems.
> 
> Where did you here that?



I know right? I heard on one call the charge nurse was like "we only use AMR, we have a contract with them" and the owner called and claimed to be a subsidiary of AMR and got the call. Sketchy much?

Anyway my friend got laid off from there a month ago at which point they had 2 ppl left. They may actually still be around with 1 crew but I didn't see there rigs in their parking lot the other day. 

But yeah I think any new ambulance company around here has lots of potential ifthings are done right. the owner of emerald obviously didn't do any market research and wouldn't allow any marketing at all. Apparently he had a "strategy" which clearly failed. I even heard nurses etc excited about a new company since AMR and everyone else gives 2 hour + ETAs.


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## waaaemt (Jan 30, 2014)

yowzer said:


> A couple of months ago, their one ambulance went from 24/7 to limited weekday business hours and most of the staff got laid off because they weren't getting enough business. So, not really surprised to hear this.
> 
> It's a hard market to break into, with 3 big companies that have been around for ages having a corner on contracts and brand recognition. When ProTransport-1 tried, they didn't last more than a few years before closing up. I think the only reason Falck, the other attempt to expand here in recent times, is still around is because it's backed by such a huge company.



Yeah Falck it sounds like isn't doing as hot as they expected. Although they do have the Evergreen contract and started running BLS with a variation with West Pierce Fire. 
But from talking to some crews it sounds like they mostly just sit around and play video games all day haha.


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## waaaemt (Jan 30, 2014)

*scope expansion in Washington state?*

Oops wrong thread.


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## AMR037 (Feb 11, 2014)

*Emerald City AMB?*

Yes I saw them at the Seattle VA Medical center old rig looked like it was about to break down.  I'm Retired Shepard Amb/ AMR Amb.  Too many AMB in the area.  3 companies fine but to be overloaded is just a waste.  It sounds like the tactics of Old EMT ambulance of Auburn  they did not last long.  I started at a smaller company called Rescue Ambulance of Auburn in 1978.  So I know just how bad EMT Amb was.  they would arrive at a location the fire dept. and Rescue was already at and say they had a Private call and demand they transport the pt.  When the caller was the Police Dept. and requested fire and Rescue Amb.


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## AMR037 (Feb 11, 2014)

*2 Hour ETA's*

I don't know where you are getting your information but that is not True at all.  Many are time calls.   I spent 29 years in and AMR in Seattle and when a call comes in it is sent out right away.  I still chat with my old partner who is still working the rig and he is sent and within 10 minutes to a hospital.  Fire calls are within 7 minutes Code 3 and 12 minutes Code 1
                          RED                                          Yellow



  You might get 2 hours from Rural Metro or Tri MED  and others  that are smaller.


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## AMR037 (Feb 11, 2014)

*Emerald Part of AMR Not a chance*

If the owner of Emerald told some RN they are part of AMR that is a outright  LIE!


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## AMR037 (Feb 12, 2014)

*Emerald City AMB.*

I think you right about it being the other service with the same wing logo.  They said owned by a Professional Fire Fighter?  Has no Idea how to run this type of service but says they want to improve the Ambulance services in Seattle,  I worked for the longest and most used service in Seattle and Retired with the respect of my peers both in the Ambulance industry and the Fire Service.  I'm sick reading about this company EMS is a 24/7 not * am To 5 pm Monday -Friday. Please any new EMT do not waste your time with this company go work for AMR, Rural Metro, or any other service.  I went to the web site and clicked on their application They are using a form from the Work Source  Very Unprofessional,  any Professional Service has their own Applications.


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## Honeybadger (Mar 25, 2014)

I was the last employee (one of two at the end) to be laid off from the company, and I had to come in here and clear up some misinformation floating around.

1.) First day, ambulance scraped a parks and rec. truck. $100 in new fenders and decision to switch to van ambulance. Last few weeks had a transmission cooler line blow on the box. Apart from that, both ambulances were old, but perfectly serviceable and were stocked completely and appropriately. Paintjobs were absolute crap though. AMR still has some vans of similar vintage in service.

2.) Company did not expect all the loopholes that WA forces a company to jump through. They tried to get trauma verified, but had trouble for reasons unknown to me (though I know that an attempt was made) and for that reason, several potential contracts with HMC and swedish fell through. We had hangups with licenses and our rescuenet stuff. The only thing that pissed me (and others) off was our lack of a draw sheet on the gurney. That's just california logic, where the hospitals don't care if you use their blankets, but it was obnoxious for us to have to hunt for a blanket.

3.) The president of the company is also in with his siblings and owns Chariot and California Ambulance. Cali ambulance was actually a success story, and while some underhanded billing processes were made to hospitals in the beginning, they wound up stealing a contract right out from under AMR with Kaiser due to superior customer service and extremely prompt response times. They have a fancy fleet of new ambulances and had ECA not died, it was reasonable to assume we'd have gotten the new hardware as well.

4.) The initial crew was very inexperienced, with only two having their state licenses at hire, but we had a strong professional ethic, got along well, and were very focused on improving ourselves and our care. Sheraryar may have come across as "sexist and brash" but he was one of the smarter interviewers I've ever dealt with. His questions were straightforward, thoughtful, and he thought about the whole team, not just individuals. As a result, he cared more about how good of a person he was hiring was, and not just their qualifications as an EMT. That's something I respected, even if some people didn't like him. He was no-nonsense, honest, and straight to the point.

5.) We did get a contract with the DSSC for emergency transport to HMC/swedish, and were hoping that it would spread the company name, wound up doing dozens of pro bono transport calls for the homeless.

All in all, I am very sad to see the company go. They wanted to do right by their employees and their customers, no compromise. Marketing may have failed, and our equipment may have been old and ugly (and for a startup, it really doesn't make sense to throw three times as much money at a risk for no real benefit,) but there was serious potential for the company.

I'll be moving on, but I don't feel like the posts here reflected how much the company really tried to do. When they knew they were going down the pipes, Sheraryar and Jack really did their best to help us transition to other companies.


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## PotatoMedic (Mar 26, 2014)

Thanks for the follow up.  It is hard to judge a company when all you get are rumors.  Now that you have your state card it will be easier for you to get a job.  Apply again to TriMed Rural Falck and AMR.


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## Honeybadger (Mar 26, 2014)

FireWA1 said:


> Thanks for the follow up.  It is hard to judge a company when all you get are rumors.  Now that you have your state card it will be easier for you to get a job.  Apply again to TriMed Rural Falck and AMR.



Already done. Trimed interviewed me, but wound up passing on me. I will continue to apply, but I wouldn't think it'd be so hard with work experience, current state license, and a letter of recommendation from my previous employer and references within trimed. I hope they'll give me a second chance to present myself in a manner more satisfactory to them.


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## PotatoMedic (Mar 26, 2014)

Did they say why they passed you up?  Might not hurt to call back and ask "what can I do to make myself a better candidate?" question.


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## Honeybadger (Mar 26, 2014)

I heard through the grapevine that I should reapply, and I did, but have not heard back. I don't wish to share more thoughts in case this forum is watched, as I don't want anything I say misconstrued as being negative towards trimed (which it isn't, I have no problem not being the right person for the job, I have heard what their concern about hiring me was from my friends in the company, and though it seemed rather minor to me, I will do my best to alleviate it if given another chance to interview)


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## Honeybadger (Nov 4, 2014)

Another post mortem update:

Chariot lost its contract with the VA, so they have officially shut down and sold off the fleet. Shame, but not entirely unexpected. I might be buying the old type 1 mod from them and making a beastly camper out of it.

From what I hear, the cali branch is starting up a CCT program, but Jack (our supervisor out here) has finally parted ways with the company.

After the somewhat unprofessional trimed situation, I briefly worked as an EMT at the score jail with an old ECA coworker, and have since moved on to AMR. I believe almost all of the ECA people are with rural metro, falck, trimed, and amr. Only two were essentially unhireable due to laziness or intolerable attitudes.

I'm glad I got the experience, though. It was fun doing seriously long distance transports, now it's the routine of lights and sirens to every drunk on a bench or elderly fall, I relish the airlifts and ift's for the chance to see things like Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis or locked-in syndrome.


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