Getting along with other services

imurphy

imurphy

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Just a question, pretty irrelevant but nice to know.

I haven't started working yet here in the US, Just waiting on my final immigration paperwork and the like, but just be nice to know when I do get working if its the same as back home.

Back in Ireland, we got on really well with the other services. We'd wave to each other passing on the road, and chat and joke at the hospitals. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see 3 or 4 different uniforms from different services sitting around in a bay or a cafe having a chat and joking around, as friends. we always looked at it as our bosses are competing with each other, but us ground troops get on fine!

So what's it like over here in the US? Are the services friendly with each other?
 
I think that it would be all the same. Around here we all give the ambulance salute to passing competing ambulances on the road. Its a peace sign.
 
daedalus said:
I think that it would be all the same. Around here we all give the ambulance salute to passing competing ambulances on the road. Its a peace sign.
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I second this, for the most part it's the same.

Speaking of which, Daed, were you working last night????
 
First of all, Congrats on passing your driving test! :P!!!!!

Second of all, I think it depends on the individual. I've run into people from other services who we joke with, laugh with, have helped us out. For example, One time we were struggling to get a very large patient into the truck ( our lift assist somehow had dissapeared, who can blame them? We were at a huge, interesting, and easy to get lost in hospital :p ) and our "competition" service came over and helped us get that patient into the truck.

However, I've met other people from other services who take it waaay too seriously and feel they are not to associate with "the enemy". But we're all private services. That may have an influence on it.
 
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Yep! Just waiting on my final paperwork now. I'm officially a M:censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored: now!

We used to help the other guys all the time on lifts and the like. Once when one of our units crashed (the guys were fine, just a little ouch to the ambulance) a crew from the "competition" brought them back to our station, about 40 miles from where they were.
 
Almost everybody has worked at each other's service at one time so it becomes a small world.

Occasionally there'll be some tension when one ambulance service loses huge contract to another service and if there are cutbacks or layoffs, some of the employees may have to work for the other service. Some areas in this country are prone to bidding wars and that can put some on edge with each other.

There is also a lot of tension during a merger where jobs will be lost. Those that had once been friends may view each other as enemies during negotiations or even in the county and municipal meetings with PD called to separate fighting employees of various services.

You will also get the "who's in charge attitudes" between FD Paramedics and Private ambulance Paramedics. Then, put a Flight Paramedic into the middle of that mess who saves the day and gets the "team" to focus on the patient. ;)

So no it is not always hugs and kisses all around.
 
My feeling is that, regardless of how most of the people I've worked with feel about the other companies, everyone is able to seperate the provider from the company. Just because I may disagree with what a company might say or do doesn't mean I'm going to snub their employees if they need help where I'm at.
 
Depends on the company. We have good relations with 3 services where we call each other for assistance. There are a like 2 others my company with have nothing to do with for good reason. On the EMT level most of us get along because we all deal with the same BS and do the same thing.
 
Yeah, I'm with you all. In Boston particularly, in the privates we are all in the same fishbowl together, same calls, different uniforms. If we seen another truck heading our way on a response, we often turn on our lights and sires to clear a path for them...

The only time I have seen animocity is between BostonEMS and Privates... but they have been isolated cases.

Good Luck, and congrats on becoming a Ma$$h0le
 
I've never seen a problem with Boston EMS. Almost everyone there has worked for a private prior to working there.
 
Sapphyre said:
I second this, for the most part it's the same.

Speaking of which, Daed, were you working last night????
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No I was not :sad:

Will be on tuesday, friday and sunday.
 
I've noticed there's a big disconnect between the 911 providers and private services. Between private services everyone's cordial, after all we're all doing the same runs. But most 911 services won't acknowledge private providers. Its a social order type of thing I guess. Even after I started 911 I still make it a point to be friendly and helpful to the private folks though, after all, that's where I started.
 
i have worked for for many services. there are some services where we did not get along with our mutual aid services. the service i work at currently and have been at for awhile acutally works nicely with our other services. one example is we had an mva with rollover and entraptment. i was early for shift so i went as a third on our truck and one of the volleys came in and i ask him to bring the other truck to the scene. we also had an als truck anroute with us. so we are on scene i am with one pt and was going to get in my truck and than something went wrong and i ended up sending the medic on another truck and i teched a bls pt on there truck, which no one seemed to mind. they were actually happy that i came up with the idea. and yes we had enough personal to cover the other trucks and they justed neede help on assisting als truck to take the bls pt. anywho the point is that it would be benificial if we all got a long and could work with eachother as closely as my company and our mutual aid and als trucks.
 
daedalus said:
No I was not :sad:

Will be on tuesday, friday and sunday.
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Ahhh, If you happen to be in BP on friday and see a really short white chick on a rig, say hi ;)
 
a lot of privates hold 911 contracts with dedicated trucks and are dispatched out by that cities fire dispatch when toned out so there is a lot of good relations with fire here. Even if a city has an fire running an ambulance or two privates back up those cities until that truck is back in service. Fire doesn't really look down on privates here. I work with a ton of firefighters that work privates to do easier calls and have an extra paycheck. They don't judge.
 
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