Colorado

Lo2w

Lo2w

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Keeping my options open and looking at a possible move out west in the near future.

Just curious about 3rd services, 2 I've saved so far are Thompson Valley and Pagosa Springs Medical Center.

Just wondering about salary ranges, schedules and so on.
 
No idea, but those would be two VASTLY different places to live and work. Same state, different worlds.
 
Summit said:
No idea, but those would be two VASTLY different places to live and work. Same state, different worlds.
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O I figured, going off areas friends have recommended. Still in the ''just looking", plenty of time for cheap flights and weekend trips to see what I like.
 
Pagosa actually has a full time medic spot open right now though you may need to have a critical care certification. Very isolated part of the state though.
Thompson Valley is supposed to be a pretty awesome place to work though I don't know much more than that. Also in the area is UCHealth EMS (Poudre Valley Hospital) in Fort Collins/Larimer County. They are undergoing some changes but still supposed to be a great spot.

You probably have noticed that there's lots of fire based stuff going on in the front range...

Other EMS only options on the front range with decent size:
Denver Health
Banner Health Weld County Paramedics (Greeley and surrounding)
Platte Valley Hospital Paramedics (Brighton and surrounding)
Ute Pass Regional HSD Paramedics (West of Colorado Springs)

The following are more ski country:
Summit County Ambulance
Eagle County Ambulance (Vail/Beavercreek)
Clear Creek County Ambulance (East of the Eisenhower Tunnel on I70)
Gilpin County Ambulance Authority East of the Eisenhower Tunnel on I70)
Grand County EMS (Winter Park and Grandby)
South Park Ambulance District (Fairplay)
Chaffee County Ambulance (Buena Vista and Salida)
Gunnison Valley Health Paramedics
Aspen Ambulance District
St. Vincent Hospital Paramedics (Leadville)

Other more isolated spots:
Delta County Ambulance District (south of Grand Junction)
Trinidad Ambulance District (south of Pueblo)
Southwest Memorial Hospital Paramedics in Cortez (way SW corner of the state)
Southwest Teller County Hospital District EMS
Alamosa Ambulance District, Costilla County, and Conejos County are all south central third services

Nearly all of these places will be on at least 24s, usually 48s, and some longer. Salaries ranging from ~40-65k for paramedics depending on the financial status of the region. Not really sure about EMTs, I know for me I went up almost 50% when I got my medic. Getting on as an EMT for any of those places could be challenging, many will want to hire off part time/PRN rolls.

AMR has decent 911 operations in Boulder, Longmont, Golden, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. All but Pueblo have some uncertain futures however.
 
^ awesome, thank you.

I'm doing my medic here next year. Our Union lined up a program with the local college to align with our schedule. I'm also approaching the down hill of my first contract with Army. Both of those will play a factor in when I would actually make a move.
 
Watching this thread, for future interest.

How's the cost of living in CO?
 
RocketMedic said:
Watching this thread, for future interest.

How's the cost of living in CO?
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Denver metro and mountain resorts = extremely high
Most other places = reasonable
 
Summit said:
Denver metro and mountain resorts = extremely high
Most other places = reasonable
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Yeah Denver is expensive, but for reference it is no more pricy than Seattle or Austin and below California cities. Not to mention the east coast...
 
I miss my GVH job... Loved Gunnison.
 
So I guess the follow up question is how's the reciprocity process as a medic with national registry?
 
Loved the area. Loved the agency. Amazing equipment. Amazing protocols. Very small but a great culture. And they do 911 and critical care.
 
Lo2w said:
So I guess the follow up question is how's the reciprocity process as a medic with national registry?
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Fairly easy with NR. It's all online and barely takes an hour to get a cert back. The problem for out of state folks is that you must submit to an FBI fingerprint background check, which is usually where the hangup is.
 
Tigger said:
Fairly easy with NR. It's all online and barely takes an hour to get a cert back. The problem for out of state folks is that you must submit to an FBI fingerprint background check, which is usually where the hangup is.
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Not too worried, Army gave me a Secret clearance.
 
Not to resurrect the dead but a few more questions coming to mind:

In the areas with Fire running the show are there departments hiring single role? I know Grand Junction is one.

Is it worth having fire certs to open up opportunities? Are there any education programs combining medic/fire? (Not seeing any yet)
 
Lo2w said:
Not to resurrect the dead but a few more questions coming to mind:

In the areas with Fire running the show are there departments hiring single role? I know Grand Junction is one.

Is it worth having fire certs to open up opportunities? Are there any education programs combining medic/fire? (Not seeing any yet)
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Almost all single role EMS paid employment for fire departments are for paramedics and I think GJFD is the lone exception. Any non-metro fire department is going to want you to already have at the very least Colorado FF1 and Hazmat Ops. You can get those at community colleges or through a volunteer department. The larger departments don't care since you're going to go through an intensive academy anyway. I am not sure I have ever heard of a fire-medic educational program before anywhere. I hope nothing like that exists anywhere.
 
Tigger said:
Almost all single role EMS paid employment for fire departments are for paramedics and I think GJFD is the lone exception. Any non-metro fire department is going to want you to already have at the very least Colorado FF1 and Hazmat Ops. You can get those at community colleges or through a volunteer department. The larger departments don't care since you're going to go through an intensive academy anyway. I am not sure I have ever heard of a fire-medic educational program before anywhere. I hope nothing like that exists anywhere.
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Here in Ohio many of the 2 year schools have like a 5-6 semester program with emt/medic and then an additional semester for the fire training and falls under one umbrella as an Associates.
 
Im convinced Co is one of the worst stats to work in EMS. Go elsewhere.
 
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