I have a couple of friends who work there and they enjoy it. They are a good company to work for. They cover over 500 square miles including Porterville, Lindsay, Terra Bella, middle of nowhere farmland, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They have newer type II van units, Lifepack 12 monitors, and Toughbooks for your PCRs. They have Paramedic/EMT staffing on the units. They run with Porterville Fire (a paid BLS department), Tule Indian Reservation Fire (a paid BLS department) and Tulare County Fire (a BLS combination department) so you are the only ALS on scene. Call volume varies from moderate to busy. They are in a CCEMSA county (Fresno, Kings, Madera, Tulare counties all have the same protocols) and protocols are slightly more restrictive compared to Kern County to the south, but overall most things are still done on standing orders. Tulare County Ambulance Dispatch dispatches all private companies based on GPS so the closest unit goes regardless of company. There is a small hospital located in Porterville which can handle most patients, but you do have a cardiac and trauma receiving hospital in Visalia which is about 30 minutes away. Air ambulances are available for the serious calls in the rural areas. Overall there, everyone is nice and friendly and it is a family atmosphere. They operate mainly 24 hour shifts but do have some day cars, especially during the week.
