I've been a DMT for 8 years... To work in the gulf you have 2 options:
1) go to commercial diving school and work for a dive company as a diver. For the dive companies you are a diver first and a medic as a bonus. You'll get an extra $1-2/hour over your diver pay. They don't hire strictly dive...
The bottom line barrier for a true professional EMS system is you get what you pay for. I know a lot of great guys in EMS, but most of the time you're not going to get many top notch professional people when the pay is peanuts. $40k a year is NOT a 'career' IMO.
To me, everything revolves...
My paramedic/dive medic gig offshore...The found my resume somewhere and called me.
My county 911 medic gig, maybe 2-3 weeks.
All about right place, right time I suppose.
I like working a full time job that's only two days a week...
Its usually something different every day.
When I'm not running I'm just hanging out.
It's a challenge that keeps my mind working.
Whats up everyone... I'm Chris. I'm a paramedic/dive medic offshore in the gulf of mexico oilfield. When not offshore I also work for a fairly rural county EMS service as well as a hospital hyperbaric center. Been reading on here for a long time, but never actually joined till today.
I don't know how good their land based stuff is, but I work for Falck offshore in the gulf of mexico oilfield. They treat me pretty well and the pay is pretty good out here! They seem to be growing all the time...