Edmonton Ride Alongs

[ds-]

Hi there.
I'll be starting my EMR course at NAIT in January and would like to do some ride alongs prior and during the course. I would like to do EMT after I have my ACP certification for EMR.

Would most of the ambulances here be ran by the City or Province and would they have contact information for ride alongs?
Or would it just be mostly other non government companies that I would be looking to contact? If so what are some companies I can contact?

Thanks in advance.

 

[WolfmanHarris]

If you're beginning your education in EMS I'd suggest you start by learning how your system works. Alberta Health Services (AHS) is your starting point.

Any such arrangement would have to go through management at any service. That would be a better starting point than a forum.

That being said, don't be surprised if you get a firm no. Patient privacy protection and increased liability concerns have essentially killed most non-academic ride-outs unless you're a political big wig. Hopefully NAIT can set-up some field placement for you, otherwise you're probably out of lucj.

 

[JDH]

Hi there.
I'll be starting my EMR course at NAIT in January and would like to do some ride alongs prior and during the course. I would like to do EMT after I have my ACP certification for EMR.

Would most of the ambulances here be ran by the City or Province and would they have contact information for ride alongs?
Or would it just be mostly other non government companies that I would be looking to contact? If so what are some companies I can contact?

Thanks in advance.

This is were I did my ride along, they were great, gave me some good advise and didn't get annoyed when I asked a million questions B) I think your best bet will be the "non government" companies. I think you should do at least one ride along before you start EMT school, just to make sure this is right for you. I know of at least one person from my class that quit after one tour of field placement because it turned out to not be what they expected...
I should add that I did my ride along before April, so things might be different now.

 

[nomofica]

You'll need your ACP cert for your EMR to do ride alongs with the City of Edmonton EMS. However, since the merger to Alberta Health Services (AHS) a lot of the operational rules have/are being changed and as far as I know ride alongs are not currently being accepted until the rules become more clear. Like Wolfman said: don't be surprised if you get a firm "no". There are a lot of liabilities (especially with a 9-1-1 service) and other factors that play in to whether you will get a ride along or not. Also, I do believe there's a waiting list but I could be wrong in that...

However, there are other counties/services you can look at for ride alongs such as the one JDH mentioned. Your best bet is to ask around; phone AHS, phone individual county EMS, etc. Though I would honestly wait until you have your EMR (and preferably have your ACP cert after that) before you arrange a placement.

 

[nomofica]

I just read the Peace Hills EMS ridealong guidelines; they seem pretty lenient and might be a good choice.

Click here to read said guidelines.

 

[ds-]

Thank you all for the information.

I think I will finish my EMR course first before looking for a ride along.

I haven't been able to find much information regarding EMS since the merger on any provincial government websites. Do they have any website or section of a website that pertains only to EMS?

I've searched around http://alberta.ca/ and http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/ and there are only very general information and most of it is for the general public.
Is there no official provincial EMS site where people apply for EMS related jobs?

The city of Edmonton's website has a section for Emergency Services but it seems mostly geared towards Firefighters and Dispatchers.

 

[nomofica]

Edmonton's city website will direct you to AHS. AHS won't give you squat. It's actually pretty ridiculous. I haven't found any single bit of useful information about a city's EMS service that has been involved in the AHS merger. From what I've heard AHS is still trying to get their act together and get things like information, guidelines, even some protocol in line. An Edmonton medic I'm friends with said from the point-of-view from inside the service, AHS is about as organized as a child's toy box (an opinion shared by many, apparently).

So really, to make that a bit shorter - no, there isn't a website/page or link that can give you general EMS information for the province of Alberta... for now.

 

[Aquariae]

I am in Edmonton as well and was making queries about ride alongs. The general answer seems to be no.

I have also been watching the job availability in the province. It seems fairly dire... I am assuming AHS is under the hiring freeze as well? Does anyone have any indications of what might be expected in the next year? ( I am owrking for AB Govt and there was initially talk that the freeze could be lifted once the new fiscal budget was released but since the economy isnt improving, I am doubtful that the govt freeze will be lifted in April).

 

[nomofica]

I am in Edmonton as well and was making queries about ride alongs. The general answer seems to be no.

I have also been watching the job availability in the province. It seems fairly dire... I am assuming AHS is under the hiring freeze as well? Does anyone have any indications of what might be expected in the next year? ( I am owrking for AB Govt and there was initially talk that the freeze could be lifted once the new fiscal budget was released but since the economy isnt improving, I am doubtful that the govt freeze will be lifted in April).

There's a bit of a freeze in hiring with services such as Edmonton EMS, but Edmonton suburbs such as St. Albert, Strathcona and Sherwood Park are apparently hiring. Don't hold me that, though.

 

[Aquariae]

I have been checking. There doesnt seem to very much available at all. Maybe when AHS sorts everything out, things might open up.

 

[Kendall]

I work for AHS, and every indication will be that there will be hirings in Spring 2010, for Edmonton and Calgary Metro, as well as Edmonton West Zone and IFT Edmonton/North Zone. This is not an official statement, merely what I've heard through the grapevine. These postings will only be open to EMT's and Paramedics, IFT however will be looking for a large number of EMR's to staff stretcher vans.

There are currently a large number of rural EMT and EMT-P postings advertised on the Alberta College of Paramedics website in places such as Vegreville, Edson, Hinton, Stettler, Cold Lake and Westlock. A vast majority of EMR postings are all industrial and standby positions, which is an alright place to start, this is as a result of AHS phasing out EMR's on emergency ambulances.

As a general policy for the moment, there will be no ridealongs provided for any Ambulance service that is direct delivery from AHS. This is due to many wide ranging factors and as it is student season, many services are flooded with EMT and Paramedic students. If you are looking for a ridealong, I suggest going to areas such as Wetaskiwin, Westlock, Barrhead, Smoky Lake, Whitecourt, etc... A good resource would be to get into contact with Associated Ambulance, they have large coverage zones in areas ~1-1.5 hours outside of the Edmonton area at the BLS and ALS service level.

 

[EMS84]

you need to finish an EMR program in Calgary to even be considered as a ride along and thats even 30/70 because they are booked solid with practicum students. I'm going to give you a little advice. Know ACP,know how they run exams,know how they ask questions and certainly know that compentency file whatever your discipline may be or you will fail. You should be doing scenarios in your sleep. READ the questions,eliminate,and pick the BESTanswer. And make sure you use all of the time they give you to your advantage.



cheers