OK, so AAS is the contracted service for all of ABQ and Bernillio county. You have AMR working the counties to the south, and Superior Ambulance works 911 throughout the state, but only handles IFT in ABQ. The ABQ and BernCo area is a two tiered response system, with both AAS and fire responding to medical calls although AFD and BCFD can only transport in extreme cases, i.e. severe trauma and we're minutes out. Other than that, all patients in the metro and county area are transported by AAS. Oh, we also do IFTs ourselves. AS for the company itself, I only have so much to go on. I've been here for two years, and it's my first EMS gig. Compared to everyone else in the area, we have better rigs, equipment, and resources, but like I said I have no direct comparison, only what others have told me after starting at AAS.
Pay is good, not quite on the level of fire or the hospitals, but decent. I make a touch over $15 an hour as an advanced, with an extra $1 on top of that for being an FTO. My partner is a medic captain with 8 years at the company, she says she makes "way too much for what I do, especially since I make you do everything." I know we're hiring a lot right now, and we have both sign on bonuses and relocation bonuses for out of state medics coming here. Oh, plus uniform allotments.
Schedule wise there are some options. I currently work 13 hour overnights 3 days a week. There are also 10 hour shifts four days a week, a couple 11 hour shifts, and 12-12-24 hour shifts for our KAFB and Mountain crews. CCT works a 24 hour staging out of a hospital. We don't have anywhere to stage out on the street, you just get posted and wait for a call. On that note, we're a heavy volume system. Part of that is ABQ itself, but I'm not gonna talk about that here, DM me if you have more specific questions. In a 13 hour shift we'll run between 8 and 13 calls. I think my record is 16, with 3 cancel enroutes and one cancel on scene. We usually get at least one IFT a night, sometimes more. Calls are typically mundane, sometimes you'll get something that actually requires you to paramedic.
Supervision is actually pretty great. For the street crews there's usually two on duty commanders to call if you need help or have and equipment failure. Our new chief worked to get us all raises, and is also trying to negotiate with the city on response times. We have a logistics department that handles truck washing and restock, so all I have to do is make sure everything in there at the start of my shift and gas the truck before I go back to base. No issues there, for the most part.
All in all, it's a great company. It has it's issues, but I figure ever company does. Let me know if you have any other questions, DM me for anything specific.
