Dan's account describes most people's experience at Fallon, but it doesn't cover everything. I'll say at the beginning that if you're a nurse, you're pretty much out of your mind for wanting to take a BLS job in the Boston area, including at Fallon. No private company I know of, save Professional EMS, is anything other than
largely an inter-facility tranport service, and most of the 911 calls go directly to ALS.
Still, this might be useful for other interested people.
Fallon also has 911 contracts or provides 911 coverage in Braintree, Weymouth, Milton, Quincy, Dedham, and Brookline. Quincy and Braintree have dedicated BLS 911 trucks, as might some others. They also do event standby for Gillette Stadium.
I'm told that during the day, the Partners contract rules all; there are a lot of trucks on and a lot of calls. At night, the call volume decreases, only a handful of BLS trucks are on (which means more attention and less chaos, but also the chance of getting sent from one end of the coverage area to the other) and it's more common for BLS trucks to take 911 coverage or get sent out on not-911-but-still-maybe-emergent calls, largely originating from nursing homes.
It's a big company, and the people that work the dedicated 911 trucks are somewhat of a breed apart. The ones I've met have been with the company for years and have a decade or more of experience.
Some other good things about Fallon:
- IFT isn't all or mostly dialysis. With the Partners contract and other Boston hospitals, there are a lot of discharges and transfers, many of which are fairly legitimate work for IFT.
- The BLS side is big enough that there will nearly always be available shifts and overtime opportunities. They won't be the good ones, however.
- They're very proactive about inventory and maintenance. They use a sealed bin system to stock trucks, which means that as long as everything's intact, you know what's in the back and where it is, more or less. Trucks are regularly pulled for maintenance, the garage supervisors take truck checkout semi-seriously, and stretchers are kept in good condition.
- Despite the policies, they're apparently more likely to remediate than fire employees.
- Their employees aren't embarrassing themselves or the profession, and the company isn't doing anything obviously wrong. You wouldn't think I'd have to list that, but with some of the stories one hears in Boston...
Some less-than-pleasant characteristics of Fallon:
- They probably aren't hiring. They weren't for the past year, then they hired a couple batches of basics and maybe some medics, and now I think they've more or less filled their vacancies.
- Their hiring process is suboptimal. Expect a non-EMS-relevant personality questionnaire, which they do take seriously, and a scripted interview of equal quality and usefulness.
- There is, indeed, a big book of policies. I've seen it, and every new hire gets a copy. It is big.
- There are a lot of supervisors. I haven't heard about any really terrible behavior from them, and they will help with calls and equipment issues, but their duties are first and foremost to make sure the facilities are happy and second to enforce the important parts of that big book of policies.
- Policies are sometimes disregarded. Just remember they exist for the company's sake, not the employees'.
- The company has a fair amount of middle and upper management. No one knows what upper management is up to, but it might not be good for the employees. Everyone knows what middle management is doing, with the apparent exception of middle management.
- The training department does not enjoy the best reputation.
- Non-911 BLS trucks lack glucometers. As far as I know, no BLS trucks have pulse oximeters. It seems unlikely to be an issue most of the time, but when you need them, you really need them.
- The company seems to have gone through cycles of success, overgrowth, and shrinkage. They now have a big contract and have committed a lot to it, which means the pendulum is due to swing the other way.
As I said, I really hope you can find a better job than Boston-area EMT, OP. If you're moving up to the area anyway, check with hospitals. They seem to always be hiring RNs and people with phlebotomy skills.
