IFT to 911 Los Angeles County?

Jim37F

Jim37F

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So I'm a fairly new EMT-B in LA Co. Been working for my first EMT job ~4 months primarily doing BLS IFT transports. No complaints about my current company, it's just that I want to work 911 response. I'm thinking Schaefer (primarily since I live in their service area, and I have a buddy who works there) but also eyeing AMR, Care, and Gerber (McCormick website says they're not hiring Basics right now).

Basically I'm looking for advice on the different companies and anything else involved in that change (how to work with LA Co Fire? Etc?)

Also, don't know if this would be import to this discussion, but I've applied to LA City Fire, passed the written, waiting on an interview date (along with several thousand of my closest friends lol)
 
Working for 911 is night and day compared to IFT's. You do so much more and have to think quick on your feet. Working with LA county fire is great because they let you do everything that's in your scope. LA fire wants us EMT's to use our skills, instead of just being a gurney jockey. A lot of the time we're first on scene which is great because I get to be in charge for a couple minutes before fire gets on scene. I work for Care, it's great company we cover east LA and north orange county. Mccormick covers west LA and AMR/Schaefer cover North LA. No matter what company you go with, you're still going to get valuable experience.
 
In addition to what you have listed look into AMR in San Bernardino County. Being in Azusa, it is just as close as Care, AMR in north county or McCormick.
 
I know Care has an open house for new recruits every second Wednesday of the month, and I was hoping to try and go to that, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to due to my regular shift, and the only guy to show an interest in picking it up got denied for whatever reason -_-

I'm looking at Schaefer because they're local, but I found an old thread (last reply was like 2-3 years ago) basically talking :censored::censored::censored::censored: about them, but my buddy who works there now says they're a good company, I was hoping if anyone else knows what it's like to work there?
 
I currently work at CARE and can tell you the orientation is not necessary. Put in an app if you want to work there. Feel free to PM me with any questions about them.

I have spoken to a few people from Schaefer. Personally I have never heard anything negative about the company. The only complaint I have heard was about scheduling. They work 72 hours week A then 96 hours week B. it is hard have a life outside of work when you are working that much but this could have changed as the people who gave me this info worked there over a year ago. However that does make a nice paycheck and it's not uncommon to be pulling over $40k a year there.
 
Cool, just sent you a PM asking about Care
 
You know there's AMR Irwindale, which is.....well right next to Azusa haha. You don't have to drive up to Santa Clarita/Lancaster! And judging by what I've heard about Care/Schaefer/McCormick, AMR will treat you better.
 
I applied to AMR Irwindale last November when I first got my certs before I got a job, but I've never heard back. Though I did apply for a part time spot so I wonder if that might've been part of why (though now I am looking for full time)
 
Jim37F said:
I applied to AMR Irwindale last November when I first got my certs before I got a job, but I've never heard back. Though I did apply for a part time spot so I wonder if that might've been part of why (though now I am looking for full time)
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AMR hired TONS of part timers during that time frame....if you have questions about them, let me know.
 
Chris07 said:
AMR hired TONS of part timers during that time frame....if you have questions about them, let me know.
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Hmm...wonder if it was due to lack of experience at the time? Oh well, not that it matters now, they weren't the only ones to not respond to my application lol Hopefully I'll have better luck here shortly
 
So as of right now I'm thinking I'll end up applying to AMR Irwindale, Care and Schaefer, but still not sure what order I'd rank them (say I get offers from two or even all 3)
 
All three are more or less the same. They all have their pros and cons. Pick the one that works best for you: Distance vs Full Time/Part Time positions available vs Scheduling.

I have an obviously biased opinion but I can tell you if you have a restrictive schedule, go with the one that can work the best for you. 911 experience will be the same regardless of where you go. IFT wise...no more dialysis runs (YAY!)....but they still run lots of IFTs. I'm currently working days and I average about 60% IFT 40% 911, but then again I work during peak IFT hours. 24 hour cars see a lot more 911s (usually).
 
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AMR hired tons and tons of EMT's and Medics last month. There was a lot of medics in my orientation class I think about 19 medics. My orientation class was a disgusting 35+ lol... They had to split EVOC into two groups.

Some EMT's had experience some others had 0 EMS experience. They do hire without experience I guess you just have to be lucky. They guy with no experience literally finished his EMT class last semester and then there is me that was on the wait list for 15 months with about 9 months BLS experience lol.
 
energystar said:
I currently work at CARE and can tell you the orientation is not necessary. Put in an app if you want to work there. Feel free to PM me with any questions about them.

I have spoken to a few people from Schaefer. Personally I have never heard anything negative about the company. The only complaint I have heard was about scheduling. They work 72 hours week A then 96 hours week B. it is hard have a life outside of work when you are working that much but this could have changed as the people who gave me this info worked there over a year ago. However that does make a nice paycheck and it's not uncommon to be pulling over $40k a year there.
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Nice Paycheck??? That's 168hrs a pay period. Is that even minimum wage?? If I worked that many hours I would be pulling down around 100Gs.
 
phideux said:
Nice Paycheck??? That's 168hrs a pay period. Is that even minimum wage?? If I worked that many hours I would be pulling down around 100Gs.
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Haha that's a good point. I know this was after taxes and before one person said he made $52k. This is SoCal so pay is horrible ($8-$10 range). I know at Schaefer they got paid for 16 hours straight. Then they had to be up for more than 2 hours during the night to receive the other 8 hours of pay.
 
energystar said:
Haha that's a good point. I know this was after taxes and before one person said he made $52k. This is SoCal so pay is horrible ($8-$10 range). I know at Schaefer they got paid for 16 hours straight. Then they had to be up for more than 2 hours during the night to receive the other 8 hours of pay.
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That is the stupidest rule ever. If I am not allowed to leave, I believe that I should be paid regardless of whether I sleep all night or if I'm run like a dog all night.
 
Chris07 said:
That is the stupidest rule ever. If I am not allowed to leave, I believe that I should be paid regardless of whether I sleep all night or if I'm run like a dog all night.
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Yep. I can't imagine not getting paid to be at work. It stinks of illegality, but somehow all these companies get away with it.
 
Does Care pay for all hours worked? (if I am in an ambu or at a station I consider myself at work because I am not at home);)
 
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