Alaska Paramedic Job?

Having done international remote work no, I am never impressed with remote medic contracts in Alaska. The dynamics are different it’s too easy to get a 3 for labor and a pa to run the clinic. I have had 3’s hired away from our ground truck with just a couple of months of bls shutteling made a “remote medic”, 15 minutes with their dr and an hour suturing an orange and away they go. So no remote medic contracts here are not exactly like anywhere else.
 
ExpatMedic0 said:
I have looked into rotational stuff on northslope with a well known company in the area. The hourly pay was not as good as I had hoped. No day rate despite being on call 24/7 while ok project site. Only a little OT paid. Maybe I just found a bad contract...
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I like this thread revival.
I've chatted with a couple of folks who work on the slope and they say the gettin' is good at the RN/PA level. They said that EMT 3s are the mainstay up there and they do "okay." It's a pretty sweet schedule and there is no income tax. Did you try Beacon? @chughes seems to know a bit more about it with the experience to boot.

A paramedic in the MatSu borough (Wasilla area) about an hour north of Anchorage can make 6 figures easy as a single role medic in the EMS department.
An FPC can work for LifeMed (fixed/911rotor/remote) and make 6 figures working 2 days/week (but I'm pretty sure you have to start as an IFT ground guy). In Anchorage, the FD is 911 ALS. LifeMed is the predominate private on the ground running IFT as I eluded to earlier. I haven't heard or seen much in the way of Medevac Alaska other than a few rigs around Anchorage on occasion; I believe they do fixed wing transports also. Guardian is in AK also, and they are owned by AMRG. AirMethods does not have medcrews, but they contract mechanics and pilots to AK services.

They have a different EMS structure in AK. EMT 1, 2, 3 (I,II,III). A 3 is like a watered down paramedic, yet the certification is easier to get because it is not through the medical board. Even with my NRP and FPC I'd probably work as an EMT III if I had time. In my opinion, having looked at the process, a true paramedic card (MICP) is time consuming and arduous to get, especially coming from out of state. It is through the medical board which credentials physicians & PAs, so you can imagine all of the hoops they require for a temporary cert. Plus, they only meet a few times a year to actually grant licensure. Therefore, most jobs are for EMT III's.
 
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@ExpatMedic0 Also, I have heard that people do commute to/from the "lower 48" for a gig on the slope. A 2-week on 2-week off schedule can facilitate that if it's your thing. I guess you need to keep looking until you find something that good. @akflightmedic probably knows someone who knows someone ;)
 
So for Medevac Alaska, I feel pretty qualified to answer this one. We primarily are a fixed wing medevac service and we do some ground ambulance work. We have few local hospital contracts in anchorage for ground but we primarily use our ground to transport our air as well as to do long distance ground when air is not needed or possible.
 
chughes said:
So for Medevac Alaska, I feel pretty qualified to answer this one. We primarily are a fixed wing medevac service and we do some ground ambulance work. We have few local hospital contracts in anchorage for ground but we primarily use our ground to transport our air as well as to do long distance ground when air is not needed or possible.
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How does your medical escort service work? Do you guys have per diem/part time medics?
 
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chughes said:
So for Medevac Alaska, I feel pretty qualified to answer this one. We primarily are a fixed wing medevac service and we do some ground ambulance work. We have few local hospital contracts in anchorage for ground but we primarily use our ground to transport our air as well as to do long distance ground when air is not needed or possible.
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What are your schedules like?
 
I don’t keep a lot of part time guys the ones I do have all work full time for other services so they are flying everyday regardless. The schedules are month on month off. Obviously there not working 24 hours a day during that time but there on location or the dispatcher knows where they are.
 
chughes said:
I don’t keep a lot of part time guys the ones I do have all work full time for other services so they are flying everyday regardless. The schedules are month on month off. Obviously there not working 24 hours a day during that time but there on location or the dispatcher knows where they are.
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When you say on location do you mean out in the bush or villages?
 
Getting my MICP in AK was easy, even with it going through the Medical Board. I know online the process looks horrendous, however it was actually quick and easy. FYI, my Alaska # was in the very LOW 500s and this was back in 2004. They do not get a whole lot of Medics if ya know what I mean.

The IIIs are called Pseudo-Medics and they were a dime a dozen because you could be a III without leaving AK. AT the time, in order to become a MICP in AK, you had to go to the Lower 48 to complete Clinicals. May have changed in the years since, unsure. Yes, I still know quite a few people in AK....
 
SandpitMedic said:
When you say on location do you mean out in the bush or villages?
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I do not wish to speak for him, however nearly every Medevac Service in AK will stage at hubs. There is not much reason/need to stage in a village or the bush.

Your pilots and AC will be in Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Nome, Barrow, etc. Many other places too, was just naming a few of the regional "hot spots" for basing crews.
 
I'm really interested in the idea of working up there. Would need to see if my wife was ok with month on month off... But if everything lined up... It would be a great move.
 
Before anyone chucks it all and comes to Alaska:

On location means at your base, or within a few minutes of it. Our year round base is in Anchorage. We have had temp basis in some really well lets just say small places but generally speaking that is temporary as its hard to maintain a plane in such exciting locals as Yakutat AK.

Openings: At the Moment I need RN's Per Diem to fill in when my full timers get sick or for some reason need a week off (they work month on month off but you know OK, sure couldn't get that done on your month off, got it) Always need Hourly local RN's

Unfortunately unless you manage to check multiple boxes at the moment I am plain full of Per Diem (Month/Month off) Paramedics, (I.E. a paramedic or RN/commercial pilot) is a great look if anyone didnt notice how much I liked that idea. I am almost always looking for part time hourly local paramedics or EMT III's.

We dont hire EMT I or II (Basics) at all anymore, all of our employees must be qualified to get on an aircraft at this point, In the beginning we tried to run a full ALS and BLS ambulance service as well as the airplanes and well that was just more hassle than it was worth. So at this point we focus on our strengths we do Fixed wing as well as our own ground, we do our contracted facilities and we do long distance inter-facility for upgrade incare.
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Little about all the flight programs if anyone is interested:
We are primarily RN/MICP on occasions we will run MICP/MICP, RN/MICP/RP, MICP/EMTIII;
Airlift NW RN/RN
Lifemed RN/MICP
Norton RN/MICP or MICP/MICP
North Slope MICP/MICP or MICP/EMTIII
40 Mile Air: ill be very honest I really dont know
Guardian RN/MICP

Salaries: For the love of god you may see some crazy salaries thrown around but let me tell you what things cost in some of these places so keep that in mind, we have had people come to us for 40% and take home more money so be careful where you end up and who is paying for what if you go looking.

Licensing: As AKFlight Medic stated licencing here is licensing, you work with an association with an MD but you have your own license through the department of health, if you do everything right it takes about 4 months to get a MICP (well a temporary one). For RN's it takes about 2 weeks (sorry medics I dont make the rules)

Schedules; As i stated we run a month on month off for our primary flight crews, it goes back to our remote medic roots: to lesson the impact we use hourly employees to keep the work load reasonable and provide surge capacity, actually I feel like our people have a really great work life balance. Much better than mine.

I do know that Airlift has jobs posted but from what I am aware they generally hire from UW, Guardian and Lifemed both always keep openings. Lifemed seems to try to stay in Alaska with there hires, Guardian (AMGH) seems to go wherever they need to. Norton will hire you from where ever but getting there is on you, Northslope will fly you from Anchorage good program but make sure you know where your going, 40 Mile Air is just for locals like really local. There is also a few smaller outfits than even ours scattered about, but even if I told you where they were you probably couldn't or wouldn't want to find them.

I believe I have given my full primer and discourse on Alaska, if I have failed to answer your question or given you answers that you dislike I apologize, but its late and I have great deal of paperwork to still go through. If anyone does wish to send a resume you may do so at chughes@medevacalaska.com but as I said above I have limited need of additional personal at the moment unless someone is crazy enough to take my job in which case I will be happy to fly around again and not stare at quite so much paperwork.
 
So it’s not 2004 anymore, and the need for Paramedics is just not like it used to be.

And the licensing... real headache for medics these days while EMTs and RNs have it streamlined. I concur.

Good post.
 
I currently have one job opening for a Paramedic in Anchorage.

Will attach link below but these are the answers to all the questions I am willing to answer.

Will be a Month on Month off Per Diem (Day rate) Position.
Full Time with benefits starting after 60 days of employment (60 days from your first day of employment)
Health, Dental, Vision, Life

To start unless Paramedic Already has there Alaska Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic Licence they will start as an EMT III.

Paramedic will work the ground unit almost exclusively until such time as they obtain there AK MICP, and AK Air Medical Escort Certification, typically 3-4 months. Ground is fairly low tempo but has high expectations; 3-4 transports a day: with winter time increasing the number of long distance transports that are done by ground 5-6 hour round trips typically 3-4 times per week. Paramedic will ride along with flight crew when volume allows for training and orientation.

Point of Hire will be Anchorage Ak

Transport to and from Anchorage is employees responsibility. Medevac Alaska gives a per diem to offset and should generally cover flight cost.

Any Company travel is Handled by Medevac Alaska (offsite crew changes, remote postings, etc)

Housing is provided while on Duty, (Including arriving the day before shift change it does get crowded that day though)

Applicants will receive a complete job description but it is rather standard.

I generally want 3 years of relevant Paramedic Experience but we have been really impressed before and have taken a little less.

Flight weight must be less than 235 lbs

Must be over the age of 25 to be eligible to drive any company vehicle per our insurance carrier.

Must have experience with vent patients, and multiple medications, multiple pumps

medevacalaska.com

Alaska Air Ambulance Service | Anchorage Medical Escort

View our job openings and join a team that serves the entire state of Alaska.
medevacalaska.com medevacalaska.com

Position pays 61,000.00-65,000.00 per year depending on experience not including travel per diem.

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Man this intriguing.
 
Meh... I'm too fat.
 
Anchorage is a pretty cool place and AK overall is....incredible.

That’s all I have.
 
Well that is terrible
 
RIP.
Terrible, I was just coming to post.
The recovery mission is ongoing with elements of the 212th RQS.
 
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