# Phoenix (AZ) Ambulance Services



## DelconPM (Feb 27, 2017)

Hey all, I was wondering if someone can provide me with some insight on Phoenix area ambulance services. 

What are the best companies to work for? 

Who does 911? 

Does anyone have a sizeable CCT program? 

What is the average hourly rate for EMTs in the area? 

Should be heading out there in a month or two....TIA.

-JC


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## FK911 (Feb 27, 2017)

Phoenix and the surrounding area is does not have many opportunities for 911 even at the ALS level.
Phoenix FD handles all 911
Scottsdale Tempe etc etc have an AMR owned company and jobs are not very plentiful.
Maricopa ambulance seems to do a lot of IFTs

If advancing your career in EMS is your goal phoenix is not going to be a good choice.

Unless u plan in Testing with Phoenix Fire

I would definitely apply a head of time before heading that way and see what hits u get.

So as far as I know if u screw up at AMR then Yiur basically out of a job in prehospital care since envision (AMR) is the only game in town.


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## FlightMedic303 (Mar 3, 2017)

DelconPM said:


> Hey all, I was wondering if someone can provide me with some insight on Phoenix area ambulance services.
> 
> What are the best companies to work for?
> 
> ...



I just moved down here about a month ago, as the above poster said, not a whole lot of opportunities here in Phoenix.. If you dont mind driving, there are "some" other opportunities. I started working for Southwest, which is now owned by AMR. Even though they tell you that you'll be working interfacility for the first 6 months to a year, I started out working 911 here. I work out in Pinal county which is about an hour drive from the city, but I work 24's so it's worth it as of now. Working out in Pinal county we have a good amount of calls where we are Medical Control, and Fire doesn't necessarily respond. And even when they do, they usually don't want to ride in to the hospital. We also have long transport times which makes you earn your paycheck with a critical patient.

As far as pay goes, well it sucks, I was making $60k/yr in Denver, here is about $40k if you're lucky.

I also worked as a critical care paramedic in Denver and was hoping to do that here as well. As far as I can tell out here the CC programs are strictly RN's and an EMT-B.


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## FK911 (Mar 3, 2017)

years ago southwest was a great company. This issue with AMR buying up all these companies I don't feel is good for EMS. 
Something I sense is that Corpate America want to control EMS by having there own medic programs and cherry picking from there pool of EMTs. Fire is getting more aggresive with taking over EMS, most of the time patient care suffers when this happens. 
ArIzona is not very populated except for Phoenix and it seems AMR has a foothold in most of the state where fire is not running EMS 
From what I see AZ is not a good career move.


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## FlightMedic303 (Mar 4, 2017)

FK911 said:


> years ago southwest was a great company. This issue with AMR buying up all these companies I don't feel is good for EMS.
> Something I sense is that Corpate America want to control EMS by having there own medic programs and cherry picking from there pool of EMTs. Fire is getting more aggresive with taking over EMS, most of the time patient care suffers when this happens.
> ArIzona is not very populated except for Phoenix and it seems AMR has a foothold in most of the state where fire is not running EMS
> From what I see AZ is not a good career move.



Yeah I would agree with you 100%. Definitely a terrible career move, only reason I'm out here and took such a substantial pay cut and reduction in scope of practice is because my fiance is a PA-C. For whatever reason she's making 2.5X the salary she was making back home in Denver. So we thought we would come out here for a couple years, payoff student loans then return... If I had any inclination that we were to make our lives here in Phoenix I would be aggressively pursuing Fire, or a different career path all together. 

The other thing that's sad is this company gives it's EMT's no incentive to go to medic school, why? Because they put in all that hard work for an extra $2/hr and all the burden and risk. Envision Health Care and AMR are too big of a company for their own good...


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## Fido198674 (Mar 8, 2017)

Ok I was a little nervous asking this but here we go. Just passed my one month mark on the waiting list (EMT-B) here in Phoenix for the only private service in town. Anyone else have any experience with this? How will I get my official offer? Will it be mail? email? phone call? Message from the Lord?


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## VentMonkey (Mar 8, 2017)

Fido198674 said:


> Ok I was a little nervous asking this but here we go. Just passed my one month mark on the waiting list (EMT-B) here in Phoenix for the only private service in town. Anyone else have any experience with this? How will I get my official offer? Will it be mail? email? phone call? *Message from the Lord?*


This made me "LOL"

I'm not from Arizona, but I'll go out on a limb here and assume it's the same as anywhere else. Typically, you'll receive an email from said service (I'm guessing it's a 3 lettered company that begins with an "A", and ends with an "R").

You're always welcomed to call and ask what the status of your application is as well. A month is a solid wait time before a phone call-nudge, good luck.


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## Fido198674 (Mar 8, 2017)

OK cool. I thought so, but wanted to double check. I called them before this and got , "should be an update today or tomorrow, just keep your eyes open"... And that was the end of the conversation I guess


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## FK911 (Mar 28, 2017)

Very strange u should be on wait list for an EMT B job. 
I would say go to Los Angeles 
Plenty of EMT BASIC gigs same day hire


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## VentMonkey (Mar 28, 2017)

FK911 said:


> I would say go to Los Angeles
> Plenty of EMT BASIC gigs same day hire


Ya, ever wonder why??


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## Fido198674 (Mar 28, 2017)

FK911 said:


> Very strange u should be on wait list for an EMT B job.
> I would say go to Los Angeles
> Plenty of EMT BASIC gigs same day hire



Actually retaking PAT tomorrow with a verbal saying April 10th start, fingers crossed. No many options out here to pick from but this is the field I want to be in and i do have the opportunity to wait it out a bit longer


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## FK911 (Mar 28, 2017)

Because medi Cal pays for BLS Transfers that no other state pays for.  There is no 911 BLS in Phx Or LA. I would never encourage a basic to hang out because the bottom line is your not going to learn much as a basic anyway. 
So why not get out get paid and learn to load a rig and drive and take manual vital signs. 

EMS jobs are not that plentiful even at the medic level and getting into medic school and passing of your starts with going and doing IFTs all day.


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## FK911 (Mar 28, 2017)

Fido198674 said:


> Actually retaking PAT tomorrow with a verbal saying April 10th start, fingers crossed. No many options out here to pick from but this is the field I want to be in and i do have the opportunity to wait it out a bit longer


Go to Los Angeles Craigslist and search EMT 
If u have NREMT it's a simple transfer to California. 
These people are leading u to believe this is something it's not. 

As a basic u will to transfers all day. 

If u are trying to get into fire. 
Go to Texas. 
Waiting is ridiculous


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## Fido198674 (Mar 28, 2017)

FK911 said:


> Because medi Cal pays for BLS Transfers that no other state pays for.  There is no 911 BLS in Phx Or LA. I would never encourage a basic to hang out because the bottom line is your not going to learn much as a basic anyway.
> So why not get out get paid and learn to load a rig and drive and take manual vital signs.
> 
> EMS jobs are not that plentiful even at the medic level and getting into medic school and passing of your starts with going and doing IFTs all day.


While I do agree, I dislike this state, certain family factors(including the in-laws) keep me here, for starters. Wife says we're not moving, then I'm staying  911 trucks by Southwest do have basics on them with a medic though. I might not work Southwest, I could be doing IFTs all day and I wouldn't mind at all learning that way. If this doesn't work by the end of April I can put myself through medic school easy enough (fiscally, not course wise) but I just wanna work in the field and get the experience first. I know it's hard to explain on a forum but if you knew me and I was rambling in person you would understand


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## FK911 (Mar 28, 2017)

Yea. It's not the state. PHX Fire runs all the ALS in Phoenix city. 
Southwest was a good company years ago but now it's owned buy AMR/ENVISION 
going to medic school is fine but U will still be up against the weak job market for EMS In Phoenix. 
When are a medic it's starting all over again 
zero experience medic gigs are hard to come by
They are mostly in areas no one wants to be. 
Rural areas.  
Just keep in mind that there are more EMTs than jobs and at  the medic level more zero year medics than jobs for Zero Year medics 
As corporate EMS continues to make mistakes with municipal government and the FIRE unions keep pushing for the control of EMS the worse the situation will get. 
Not being able to move is going to really be a hard thing if u are going to make EMS a career. 
Unless u are headed to PHX FD or mesa or some other department there in the valley. 
If u have money to throw at it 
Go to medic school 
Pass 
Go to a RN bridge. 
Then it's all gravy. 
Kinda


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## Jim37F (Mar 28, 2017)

FK911 said:


> There is no 911 BLS in Phx Or LA.


Can't speak for Phoenix, but I'm an EMT dual BLS ambulance doing first in 911 response in LA (and doing both the BLS and ALS transports). Of course I'm also making a hair more than minimum wage, the fire captain has full scene control (even if he/she is an EMT on the BLS engine who's already cancelled the ALS squad, they can make treatment/transport decisions), no BLS ambulance I'm aware of here carries Pulse Ox and Glucometers are an ALS skill...but for all that as a Basic in Los Angeles I am still doing 911 and almost no transfers (of course I'm at one of the 5 companies out of 80+ with any 911 contracts, and I think we're the only one where a new hire can do 95+% 911s over IFT)


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## VentMonkey (Mar 28, 2017)

Or you can relocate to the enigmatic Kern County.


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## FK911 (Mar 28, 2017)

Yea u are running LA county 
I know the drill. Squads AKA Johnny and Roy. 
My buddy was 64s in San Dimas 
Of course the cap has the Final word. 
He is the fire officer. 
Yep u r the exception not the the norm 
That's good experience. But it's still not ALS critical care unless u are the primary or care provider at the ALS level. 
Which is a lot of responsibility 
But it does give a basic good insight into things if the basic pays attention and knows what to think about 

Pulse oximetry is one diagnostics tool that can give is insight into a clinical status. 

It's something medics should be having the EMT place on the PT... can't interpret but EMT Is in the game


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## FK911 (Mar 28, 2017)

Can't check BGL. Mostly because basic can't give D50. In Katrina one of the main issues encountered was non compliance due to lost or meds not being accessible. 
So cal should have a disaster protocol. 
Becuse when the 9.5 Roller hits. 
U basics are going to be on your own. 
But will the county or state directors REALLY put PT care first?  
Create formal associations that address the issues that the bean counters don't, that's how EMS will change for the better


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## VentMonkey (Mar 29, 2017)

Yes, what will we do without glucometers in the face of an MCI, or natural disaster such as "The Big One"...


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## Fido198674 (Mar 29, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> Or you can relocate to the enigmatic Kern County.


That actually took me a second, sounded familiar  I was raised in Sacramento before living here


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