Los Angeles County Paramedic Positions

[Uclabruin103]

Recent medic school grad and looking to find a job. Been putting in apps with every licensed company on the DHS website, but just curious if I could get any input from people working in companies as a medic.

Equipment, adherence to protocol, work environment, pay, etc.

For any Los Angeles Paramedic company.

So, Guardian, MedResponse, Bowers, Schaefer, PRN, AMR Iwindale/San Gabriel, RSI, ambuserve, AmeriCare, etc.

Especially curious as to what it's like working AMR as a medic in irwindale and san gabriel valley. Are you with the BLS crew and run calls with them, and only do ALS ift once in a blue moon?

Anything is appreciated!

 

[CentralCalEMT]

It has been said before and will no doubt be said again on these forums. ALS as a private in LA county is pretty much IFT only. I have friends who work for several of those companies, and they all say the same thing that you do mainly monitor transports between hospitals. If there are no ALS transfers, you will also do BLS and dialysis transfers as well. The rigs are all fully stocked ALS units so the equipment is decent, but you almost never use it. If you run Medic/EMT which is how most companies in LA do it, you are not even allowed to respond to 911 calls as an ALS unit.

Now before anyone jumps on me, I realize you can learn much from IFTs, but you do not develop your assessment and treatment skills anywhere near as fast as if you ran 911 calls.

Do NOT let your hard work and skills go to waste. The surrounding counties San Bernardino, Riverside, Kern, Ventura all have paramedics that function as ALS. In some like Kern County, the ambulance is the only ALS on scene so you develop your skills really quickly.

 

[Uclabruin103]

I know that all this has already been said. I'm not looking for a general description of private ALS in LA County. Im looking for specific working envirornments at the different companies. Thanks though.

 

[terrible one]

I know that all this has already been said. I'm not looking for a general description of private ALS in LA County. Im looking for specific working envirornments at the different companies. Thanks though.

All the companies you've mentioned are all fairly similar. There is some variance as far as pay and equipment but not much. Like centralcalEMT said I'd look elsewhere unless you are content with transfers all day.

 

[Uclabruin103]

No more general statements! Ha! Just trying to get info from employees of the companies that work there or have worked there.

 

[terrible one]

I've worked at two of the companies you mentioned and I've had friends at two others. Again the differences are minor. Biggest difference are the colors of ambulance and uniforms. Pay, equipment, calls are too close to say one company is much better than the other.

 

[mike1390]

I've worked at two of the companies you mentioned and I've had friends at two others. Again the differences are minor. Biggest difference are the colors of ambulance and uniforms. Pay, equipment, calls are too close to say one company is much better than the other.

Same here... exact same feelings. Although some make maybe a couple dollars more than other places. I saw Americare was starting medics out at $20/hr. AMR is probably around 12/hr. I know bowers and PRN pay really well. I know a medic for bowers who is making $26/hr on a 12 hr shift. So it all comes down to a couple bucks here and there.

 

[Chris07]

Getting a medic slot at AMR is very hard in the SGV for an outsider. When medic spots open up, they tend to promote internally first before they even consider looking for new hires. Not that it's impossible, just that it's relatively rare that they hire outside medics, considering there are lots of EMTs who are also medic school grads.

SGV AMR has 3 ALS cars. Two of them are 1:1 staffed and one is dual medic (runs back-up ALS 911 for West Covina). One 1:1 car is a 12 hour car dedicated to MLK, the others are 24 hour shifts stationed in Irwindale. As was said, and as you know, they do mostly ALS IFTs. Although they do respond to 911 calls they are limited to operating at a BLS level. I'm not sure what pay is like, but they tend to stay moderately busy. In a 24 hour shift, they tend to stay busy during the day but night time is hit or miss from what I understand. The one good thing is that they are stationed in Irwindale, which is not part of AMR's 911 coverage zone, so the potential to get sleep is there...assuming you don't get a 3am post move.