EMT in San Gabriel Valley area (Socal)

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dragon529

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Hi all~ this is my 1st post so please be nice :rolleyes:

I'm currently job searching and looking at various EMT companies in my area. I live around Pasadena. I've been looking into a few but I'm not sure whether they're good/bad and if anyone has previous experiences with them that they would like to share.

APT ambulance
Schafer
American Medical Response
CARE
Medic-1
Aegis
Lifeline
Priority One

I would like to avoid commuting and staying near Pasadena as much as possible... but we'll see how that goes. Aegis is located in Monrovia, which is close but my friend told me to avoid it. As for the others... not quite sure how well the equipments are, people friendly? and starting pay is.

Any input is welcome :P
 
I'm not sure why this is the case, but it's hard to find anything good to say about most private ambulance companies in LA County. The standard story is basically the same - they all pay terribly, treat their employees like Kleenex, and working for them makes you feel like you're working for some sort of racketeering scam than a legitimate business enterprise. Most are very poorly managed, and the supervisor/management teams will often pressure you to go into service without all required equipment - and often times proceed to then write you up for doing so - or to always transport the patient even when the best interest of the patient is to remain on scene and call the primary ALS provider for the area (i.e. the local fire dept.) to intercept you.

Having said that, I would say your best bet would probably be AMR (even though I hear their Irwindale division is very badly managed, at least you could theoretically transfer out to a different division after 6 months) or Care. I used to work for Care when I was an EMT (had to quit to go to medic school), and it is a pretty well-run organization. Very little of the typical shenanigans that you find with other private ambulance companies. Schafer is at least local, and has a 911 contract, but based on what I've heard about them, that's about their only redeeming quality. You might also want to check out McCormick & AmeriCare, and Medic-1 might be worth looking into.

Stay away from Aegis, Priority One (this is the institution where I currently work, and if I had my way the California Department of Industrial Relations would shut them down, and the owners would be arrested & prosecuted for whatever a good attorney could make stick), Lifeline, and all the other litany of small-time companies operating in LA County. Do not even set foot in these places as for all you know the damn FBI is staking them out.

Stick with AMR, Care, & McCormick and look into AmeriCare, Schafer, & Medic-1 if you don't have any luck with the previous 3.
 
Thanks for your reply greypilgrim~ really helpful tips.

Another question I have is that most of the company's website advertise starting pay for emt is $12-13 bucks an hr, is this true? Would the pay be different if I graduated from a University with a bachelors degree?
 
dragon529 said:
Thanks for your reply greypilgrim~ really helpful tips.
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You're most welcome.

Another question I have is that most of the company's website advertise starting pay for emt is $12-13 bucks an hr, is this true?
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Wow, that's actually pretty good! Just from my own experience, starting wages for EMT's is usually like $10/hr.
Would the pay be different if I graduated from a University with a bachelors degree?
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Unfortunately, this is unlikely. This is one of the many things that is wrong with private sector EMS - they literally are blind to anything you may have done outside of getting your county EMT card. Having a bachelors might help you get hired, but most ambulance company managers would rather get shot in the leg every day for the rest of their lives than negotiate wages with potential employees. Unlike other professional services, private ambulance companies do not encourage radical behavior like getting an education. Furthermore, the fact that you have a degree of some sort might work against you in some way as you will likely be more educated than your supervisors or even the person interviewing you - but this depends on the company in question.
 
What he said...

I hate to paint with a broad brush but the overwhelming majority of private ambulance companies in SoCal are little more than and in many cases very obviously surviving thru fraud.

From bribing RN's at convalescent hospitals to doctoring, no pun intended, run sheets, they exist to bill Medicare and collect whatever they can before they get caught.

How some of them get licensed is worthy of it's own investigation. Seriously, try no O2, no actual equipment on a rig, non-working emergency lighting, etc.

Stay the hell away from them. If you went to PCC for your class, talk to your instructors about where to go and apply.

John E
 
Thanks for your reply John E.

I am planning to take the EMT class at PCC the upcoming summer, so I will definitely talk with the instructors in detail. I wanted to hear other's opinions on job opportunities in the Socal area before stepping my foot into the field. All these answers have been really helpful.
 
One more question~
Are the Socal emt companies hiring year-round or are there specific time periods when they do recruitment? Usually how long does the whole process take?
 
What do u guys think about Gerber Ambulance?

they have a few 911 contracts, i think one of them is with the city of Torrance
im thinking about applying to them once i get my Expanded Scope Licence
 
Dinna ken...

or don't know to those who have never traveled to the U.K.

They've been around a lot longer than most of the Medicare fraud front companies, probably doing something right.

What is an "expanded scope license"? All you need in Los Angeles county is proof that you've taken a class that covers their specific scope of practice. There isn't any separate license for it and it's not expanded scope, if anything it's more restricted than most. We covered the L.A. county scope of practice stuff in about an hour of classtime, if that.

John E
 
thegreypilgrim said:
I'm not sure why this is the case, but it's hard to find anything good to say about most private ambulance companies in LA County. The standard story is basically the same - they all pay terribly, treat their employees like Kleenex, and working for them makes you feel like you're working for some sort of racketeering scam than a legitimate business enterprise.
Click to expand...

Your post leaves me with images of 'Mother, Jugs, and Speed'.
 
John E said:
or don't know to those who have never traveled to the U.K.

They've been around a lot longer than most of the Medicare fraud front companies, probably doing something right.

What is an "expanded scope license"? All you need in Los Angeles county is proof that you've taken a class that covers their specific scope of practice. There isn't any separate license for it and it's not expanded scope, if anything it's more restricted than most. We covered the L.A. county scope of practice stuff in about an hour of classtime, if that.

John E
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Well people who get certified outside of L.A County (my class was in Orange County), like i did, need to take an extra class, For the L.A County "expanded scope" cert, i didnt mean a licence i misworded it.
 
No worries...

check with the L.A. County EMS office, they'll set you up.

Very nice people to deal with.

John E
 
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