# San Diego Ambulance Companies



## BlackOut (Sep 12, 2008)

hey everyone!  So I just moved to San Diego from Santa Clara county (Northern California) and was wondering which ambulance companies run the 911 contract down here in SD.  I understand that Rural/Metro in conjunction with the SD Fire Dept form the San Diego Medical Enterprise which holds the biggest chunk of the contract but what other companies run 911?  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks!


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## MattCA (Sep 12, 2008)

AMR is the second best bet. Thats where Im heading as an EMT. Other than that I'm not too sure. I remember asking a guy from bowers that came to our class and I swear he kept avoiding the question by answering with something else lol. I think he was saying how they were 911 overflow (yay...). IDK about balboa and pacific. I think they are just transport. From what Ive been hearing, AMR is your best bet. They are supposed to be more flexible and they hire often unlike rural/metro which hires every other month. Are you an EMT or Medic?


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## Jeremy89 (Sep 13, 2008)

I was looking into possibly moving to SAN and living with my grandparents, just for a job at my age.  I remember talking to Angela(?) at R/M.  She sounded desperate for EMT's- at the time, there were about 15 positions open for Basic's.  It looks like there's a position on their website as of today.  I hear AMR and R/M are the two best companies to go for.  And yes Matt, you're right- R/M runs with SD fire.

Hope that helps some!

Jeremy


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## pumper12fireman (Sep 13, 2008)

I was looking at AMR's website today, and San Diego did catch my eye. Does anyone have an idea of the pay scale in those parts for medics? Does it keep up with the higher cost of living?? (at least higher than what I'm used to in the midwest)..


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## MattCA (Sep 13, 2008)

pumper12fireman said:


> I was looking at AMR's website today, and San Diego did catch my eye. Does anyone have an idea of the pay scale in those parts for medics? Does it keep up with the higher cost of living?? (at least higher than what I'm used to in the midwest)..



IDK. Emts get about $8.50-$9. I think you make about $50K a year as a medic. Im not sure.


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## Sapphyre (Sep 14, 2008)

ok, granted I'm not in SD, but 8.50-9?  Are you sure?  That's kind of low...


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## Jon (Sep 14, 2008)

MattCA said:


> IDK. Emts get about $8.50-$9. I think you make about $50K a year as a medic. Im not sure.


Is that under some bizzare "24 hour" pay scheme?


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## Sapphyre (Sep 14, 2008)

Sounds like the 24 hour pay here.  True shift work makes a bit more per hour.  And, there's a rumor it's gonna go up, since state minimum wage is on it's way up.


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## MattCA (Sep 14, 2008)

Yea with R/M and AMR they pay you $8.50. I got an email from care that says they pay $11, but they are only transports. 12 hour shifts. I dont think they have 24's with emts anymore. The reason why it is probably so low is because during the day medics run 911 calls. BLS might run a few at night. There are plenty of medics and money in San Diego. Usually 2 on an ambulance. They just take turns driving/attending.


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## BlackOut (Sep 15, 2008)

the only reason why I'm wondering how R/M is running in San Diego is because they fun the majority of 911.  I am an EMT and would like to work 911 but I'm not sure how they do it here?  Anyone know if its EMT+Medic for ALS 911 in San Diego or Medic+Medic??


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## MattCA (Sep 15, 2008)

With rural metro they have the "bridge" program. Your an emt that I think has been with the for at least 6 months and you take a test. If you pass you could be basically a driver for a medic. From what I know your rarely if any get to work on the pt. Also from what I know, if you are an emt and want to run some low grade emergency calls, work at night. Theres no transports at night so thats what you get. As an EMT in San Diego, you will mostly be doing transports.


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## Code 3 (Sep 15, 2008)

BlackOut said:


> hey everyone!  So I just moved to San Diego from Santa Clara county (Northern California) and was wondering which ambulance companies run the 911 contract down here in SD.  I understand that Rural/Metro in conjunction with the SD Fire Dept form the San Diego Medical Enterprise which holds the biggest chunk of the contract but what other companies run 911?  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks!



Rural/Metro has the 911 contract for the *City of San Diego* and runs with San Diego Fire. The starting pay for an EMT-B is usually $8.50/hour. Once hired, you have the option to go through a bridge class and become eligible to work on an ALS unit. These classes are scheduled throughout the year depending on staffing. You must pass a written exam and practical skills exam in order to qualify.

AMR has the 911 contract for specific cities within the *County of San Diego*. These cities include:


La Mesa
Spring Valley
Alpine
Chula Vista
South Bay
National City
Bonita
Imperial Beach
Lemon Grove
Jamul
Campo

AMR's units are dual-medics, with the exception of rural east areas like Jamul, Alpine, and Campo. The starting pay for an EMT-B is just over $9.00/hour and an EMT-P is just over $10.00/hour.


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## BlackOut (Sep 15, 2008)

Code 3 said:


> Rural/Metro has the 911 contract for the *City of San Diego* and runs with San Diego Fire. The starting pay for an EMT-B is usually $8.50/hour. Once hired, you have the option to go through a bridge class and become eligible to work on an ALS unit. These classes are scheduled throughout the year depending on staffing. You must pass a written exam and practical skills exam in order to qualify.
> 
> AMR has the 911 contract for specific cities within the *County of San Diego*. These cities include:
> 
> ...




Thanks for the help help guys!  So it looks like the only way I'll be able to get some 911 action within reasonable distance is R/M.  The bridge program is much like how AMR does it in my hometown county of Santa Clara.  You work BLS for about 6 months before you are eliagable to test to work ALS with a Medic.  So pretty much any adress that has "San Diego, CA" is the city of SD, and that would be R/M 911 contract?


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## John E (Sep 15, 2008)

*I know it's been written about before...*

but how in the world is someone supposed to live on those kind of wages?

$10.00 an hour for a Paramedic? 

Let me guess, you make it up in overtime?

The cost of living in the San Diego is 2nd only to the Bay area in the state of Californian as I understand it. How does a person making a whopping 10 bucks an hour afford to live anywhere near where they work?

And how does AMR get away with it? They're paying an average of $19.00 per hour for straight labor costs, plus benefits for 2 ambulance crew members, what are they billing for an hour of that crew's time? 

John E.


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## MattCA (Sep 16, 2008)

What $10.00? Are you serious? Wow I did not know that. Dang maybe I should look more into RN or Doctor. Oh well, will definatly be a lot of fun.


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## Code 3 (Sep 16, 2008)

R/M EMT-B (12hr shift pay): ~$119.00
AMR EMT-B (12hr shift pay): ~$126.00

Of course with any company, there are extra shifts you can pickup or events. You can work as much as you want in order to get more money. Also, I believe the AMR EMT-P's are paid for the full 24-hour shift, so you need to calculate regular time, time and a half, and double-time.


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## John E (Sep 16, 2008)

*Correct me if I'm wrong...*

and I'm sure someone will but you don't earn overtime for working a 24 hour shift in California when you work for a private ambulance company that does any sort of 911 transporting.

So I've been told by EMT's who work for McCormack and for AMR in the Los Angeles area. You're paid straight time for all your hours. You only earn overtime if you work more than 40  hours per week.

Of course the "you'll make it up in overtime" is a false and misleading argument anyway, it fails to bring into account that you're also working more hours. Elementary I know but I've met plenty of people who fail to make that simplistic connection. 

Any job that only pays a livable wage by working overtime, isn't paying a livable wage.



John E.


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## Sapphyre (Sep 17, 2008)

John, I think it really depends on what your union was able to negotiate for you.  Yes, where I am, if you work 24s, you only get overtime if you go over 40 hours in the week.  I work shorter shifts, and get overtime on every one of them.


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## John E (Sep 17, 2008)

*Interesting...*

that it takes union intervention to get a company to obey state labor laws.

I've never had anyone who could explain to me how a PRIVATE ambulance company gets away with not paying overtime in the same manner that virtually every other private company in California is required to. 

Does anyone actually know? Public service employees are paid overtime according to the law, so are nurses, RT's, etc. Why aren't EMT's at the private companies?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a staunch believer in unions but it shouldn't require a union to get basic wage and hour laws followed.

John E.


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## Sapphyre (Sep 17, 2008)

John, in California, a company can choose to pay OT for over 8 hours in a day, or over 40 in a week.  With the ambulance companies, they seem to be going to the over 8 in a day, except on the 24 hour shifts...


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## BossyCow (Sep 17, 2008)

John E said:


> that it takes union intervention to get a company to obey state labor laws.
> 
> I've never had anyone who could explain to me how a PRIVATE ambulance company gets away with not paying overtime in the same manner that virtually every other private company in California is required to.
> 
> ...




The law in most states defines overtime as any hours in excess of 40 per week. If you work those 40 hours in 2 days or 7, it doesn't matter. So technically the company is correct in not paying overtime. A union negotiates a contract and defines the terms of work under that contract. They can define overtime as anything on a saturday/holiday, more than 2 hours a week or whatever they are able negotiate. 

EMTs working for a private company are simply private sector employees. They will be paid the minimum it takes for the private company to keep their rigs staffed. 

There are sometimes additional rules regarding 'essential service' employees, as there are in most hospitals, EMS agencies.. stating that you cannot leave your shift without being replaced, limiting your right to strike, and some other exemptions to regular labor laws, but in the case described above, there is no law being broken.. less than 40 hours a week is straight time.


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## alexcemd (Nov 16, 2008)

BlackOut said:


> hey everyone!  So I just moved to San Diego from Santa Clara county (Northern California) and was wondering which ambulance companies run the 911 contract down here in SD.  I understand that Rural/Metro in conjunction with the SD Fire Dept form the San Diego Medical Enterprise which holds the biggest chunk of the contract but what other companies run 911?  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks!



Welcome to SD Man. I'm a dispatcher with Pacific Ambulance. If you are looking for 911 rural/metro is the way to go. AMR has a couple but word on the street is they are talking about pulling out of San Diego they've lost alot of their contracts. we've actually been growing alot. as far as bls goes we are the second largest in the county. rural is the only one above us. we get a good amount of code calls. most of the smaller companies in san diego are on their way out. er, care, balboa, alert, most of them are on their last leg in sd. Unfortunately 911 contracts usually end up hurting companies and costing more money than they bring in. we do alot of transports for donovan correctional facility which are usually code calls, and we take calls turned calls from rural constantly. we also are on the call lists and are first in line for overflow for heartland fire and rancho vista fire. so really the three safest bets here in SD are rural amr and pacific. any other questions let me know man.


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## alexcemd (Nov 16, 2008)

BlackOut said:


> the only reason why I'm wondering how R/M is running in San Diego is because they fun the majority of 911.  I am an EMT and would like to work 911 but I'm not sure how they do it here?  Anyone know if its EMT+Medic for ALS 911 in San Diego or Medic+Medic??



Really any 911 contract requires 2 medics for als.


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## Code 3 (Nov 16, 2008)

alexcemd said:


> Really any 911 contract requires 2 medics for als.



R/M ALS rigs are (1) EMT-B and Paramedic

AMR ALS rigs are (2) Paramedics


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