# Wilderness EMS opportunities, where are they?



## Mmedic (Dec 23, 2016)

Hi EMS providers, 

I was looking for job opportunities in the wilderness (i.e. expeditions, camping, etc.), however most of them seem to be just volunteer work. Not to downplay volunteering but I do have bills to pay and all... So is there anyone that has experience with wilderness EMS jobs, and if so, could you describe the job in all its glory and sewage? 


I'm a newbie with this forum so apologies if I've broken any rules.


----------



## PotatoMedic (Dec 23, 2016)

The best you probably will be able to get is a medic job working as a park ranger.  But those are rare.  Second best would be to work for an agency that covers a larger area of wilderness in which you respond and go hiking to fetch them.


----------



## Summit (Dec 23, 2016)

There are virtually no wilderness medicine jobs where that is your primary role, even as a volunteer.

FireWA1 covered it.


----------



## NysEms2117 (Dec 23, 2016)

Maybe an Alaska state trooper? But their main role is Law Enforcement. I'd imagine they would have to do some EMS, just due to the response times, but this is a guess, and not factual.


----------



## EpiEMS (Dec 23, 2016)

I believe that some wilderness fire organizations have dedicated medical providers...so that could serve, probably seasonally, as a role.


----------



## Summit (Dec 23, 2016)

I guess you could count ski patrol if you are counting seasonal jobs... but you do have to ski well. Couple people do the ski patrol winter, wildland fire summer thing.


----------



## Operations Guy (Dec 23, 2016)

Denali National Park and Yosemite have dedicated EMS jobs year around. However all park LEOs is EMT and some are medic trained. Park LEO is normally first on scene and they try to stabilize patient for transport. The dedicated EMS job is mostly you call we haul. Unless you get on a helicopter crew but then it's 80 percent wildland firefighting then 20 percent rescue. Best bet would be to go work remote medical once you get your paramedic and some experience.


----------



## Handsome Robb (Dec 24, 2016)

Summit said:


> I guess you could count ski patrol if you are counting seasonal jobs... but you do have to ski well. Couple people do the ski patrol winter, wildland fire summer thing.



I still wouldn't count ski patrol as wilderness unless your consistently doing off piste SAR type stuff. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## CALEMT (Dec 24, 2016)

Good luck trying to find a full time wilderness EMT job. Its practically a unicorn job because it just doesn't exist. Like FireWA1 said Park Rangers would be your best bet but even that is far fetched. If you like the desert Border Patrol has a SAR team. Those are the only two that I can think of off the top of my head. USBP requires you to be a field agent (3 years) before trying out for the SAR team, Parks service I believe requires you to also be a LEO.


----------



## Operations Guy (Dec 24, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> Good luck trying to find a full time wilderness EMT job. Its practically a unicorn job because it just doesn't exist. Like FireWA1 said Park Rangers would be your best bet but even that is far fetched. If you like the desert Border Patrol has a SAR team. Those are the only two that I can think of off the top of my head. USBP requires you to be a field agent (3 years) before trying out for the SAR team, Parks service I believe requires you to also be a LEO.



Park Service doesn't make LEO a requirement in the bigger parks with dedicated EMS. It's just a very hard job to land. Most of the guys in the dedicated EMS roles started out either in park fire or where LEOs and knew the right people. Bigger Parks have year around fire jobs as well.


----------



## Handsome Robb (Dec 24, 2016)

An old member on here worked for NPS as a Paramedic, he was seasonal though. My understanding is that most of the EMS only positions are seasonal positions and not year round. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Operations Guy (Dec 24, 2016)

There are year around gigs just hard to land. You may have to work a couple seasons as a seasonal but they will offer full time. They want to see you put in a few seasons as a seasonal before offering full time. It's the same way they hire full time year round LEO and Fire. Plus full time year round is normally GS-6 and above.


----------



## Summit (Dec 24, 2016)

Handsome Robb said:


> An old member on here worked for NPS as a Paramedic, he was seasonal though. My understanding is that most of the EMS only positions are seasonal positions and not year round.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk





Handsome Robb said:


> An old member on here worked for NPS as a Paramedic, he was seasonal though. My understanding is that most of the EMS only positions are seasonal positions and not year round.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


My friends who are nps medics are seasonal. They work as nurses or raft guides in their of season


----------



## akflightmedic (Dec 25, 2016)

NysEms2117 said:


> Maybe an Alaska state trooper? But their main role is Law Enforcement. I'd imagine they would have to do some EMS, just due to the response times, but this is a guess, and not factual.



LOL...you say this like a Trooper would be on scene before EMS...I remember some calls where the Trooper could not get to us for 3 days...you know they had to fly in and deal with weather delays and all.  LOL

People would be amazed at how things are done in the north...(this has both good and bad connotation).


----------



## NysEms2117 (Dec 25, 2016)

akflightmedic said:


> LOL...you say this like a Trooper would be on scene before EMS...I remember some calls where the Trooper could not get to us for 3 days...you know they had to fly in and deal with weather delays and all.  LOL
> 
> People would be amazed at how things are done in the north...(this has both good and bad connotation).



Had no idea. Was just an idea/guess for the reasons you stated above. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## akflightmedic (Dec 25, 2016)

If you ever wanted to get away with a capital crime....AK would be the place to do it! LOL


----------



## NysEms2117 (Dec 25, 2016)

akflightmedic said:


> If you ever wanted to get away with a capital crime....AK would be the place to do it! LOL



Ahhh, only thing I know about police there is about 15 minutes of "Alaska state troopers" lol 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## akflightmedic (Dec 25, 2016)

Yep...months and months of filming to get 15 mins of intense drama. LOL


----------



## NysEms2117 (Dec 25, 2016)

akflightmedic said:


> Yep...months and months of filming to get 15 mins of intense drama. LOL



Am I to assume all filming is done in the summer? 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Tigger (Dec 26, 2016)

The call volume of actual wilderness related EMS incidents does not really support it being a paid position. Yes, bigger parks have staffed, ALS ambulances. But the calls the majority of their calls aren't deep in the backcountry either. They probably run more hike in/SAR type calls than most EMS providers do, but it's still not their primary focus. Regular ground EMS services might provide medical providers to their local SAR teams in less built up areas, but callouts are comparatively rare and your primary job is that of a ground EMS provider. My work keeps a "backcountry" bag in the trucks to let us bring in more targeted gear to hikers/climbers/powersports enthusiasts but we are doing maybe 20 of those calls and have a significant powersports target hazard.


----------



## SAREMT (Sep 21, 2017)

I worked as a seasonal employee for a state park service where we did SAR and EMS, but it was BLS and all on foot unless we happened to hitch a ride with a helo. As far as I know, NPS, rural Fire, and rural ambulance services that do things like rope rescue are the best bets for paid wilderness EMS type work. SAR is primarily unpaid simply because the volume isn't there to justify it unless we're talking heavily populated parks and wilderness areas.

I left my Parks job simply because we didn't get enough action, so I went to an urban system. I'm much happier. Working where I played kind of ruined it for me.


----------

