Medic positions in SoCal

thelongmedic

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Hey everyone, I am finishing up medic school and am wanting to jump into the workforce. I live in oneof the beach communities in LA Co and I’m looking at medic positions around. I want to work at a place that allows for me to best grow as a brand new medic but I’m not trying to spend all of my paychecks on commuting back and forth. I’m aware LA Co/OC EMS is handled almost exclusively by the FF/PMs. I have been looking at possibly Riverside Co, San Bernardino Co and Oxnard/Ventura Co as potential places. The few questions I have are this. Who is generally in charge of patient care and the direction taken for it, like do the FF/PMs call the shots or can the private ambulance medics get to have a say in patient care? What’s the call volume like (I would like to get some good experience under my belt wherever I work). As a new guy, what is the scheduling like (24s or stuck with whatever they have available). I know very little about the private ambulance Companies in the areas mentioned and would like to hear what you all have to say about them as well.
thanks y’all
 

VentMonkey

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Typically with most areas outside of LA/ OC, the FD's will relinquish patient care to the transporting paramedic once they've handed the report/ patient over to them. Or, if the ambulance paramedic happens to beat the FD to the call, then they'd typically have "control" over patient care. That's the gist of how it works in my county, though fire is still predominantly BLS-level providers.

@DesertMedic66 and @CALEMT are your Inland Bro-pire experts on here and could offer up specific details about Riverside. That said, there's more than enough info on this forum for ya'...if you haven't found it yet.
 

CALEMT

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I have been summoned like the firefighter para-God I am...

Like my counterpart above has already mentioned, theres a lot of threads on this forum about AMR (Riverside Co.) and Riverside County in general. Though they might be dated the information is fairly accurate.

Here in Riverside county AMR is the sole 911 ambulance provider. It's broken up into 3 divisions: Riverside, Hemet, and Palm Springs. My experience is/ was with Palm Springs both as a EMT and then a paramedic. PS and Hemet are pretty much the best AMR ops in the So CAL area IMHO. Hemet and PS for the most part run 12 hour shifts. Theres a few 24's between both divisions however from my time there it's unlikely that you'll get a bid there and its pretty busy except for a few areas.

We run things pretty much similar to what vent has posted. Pretty much the first ALS provider is in charge with pt care until a transporting medic arrives (if FD is first on scene). I work for a non-transporting FD and unless it's a high acuity call where I need all hands on deck pt care gets transferred as soon as the AMR medic walks through the door. Where I work we have a good relationship with AMR, but of course theres turds in every pool.

As far as call volume for the county I can only give my department statistics. We run approximately 150,000-170,000 calls per year. Keep in mind the Riverside county (per square mile) is one of the largest counties in the US. Protocols for CA are great, we're more clinicians vs "mother may I" which is great. I get to be a paramedic making treatment decisions on my own (for the most part, theres still things I need a BHO for).

Any additional questions feel free to ask and I'd be happy to answer.
 

DesertMedic66

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Riverside county and San Bernardino county run operations pretty similarly.

In Riverside county the sole transport company is AMR. All 911 calls will get an ALS engine and an ALS ambulance. Who ever arrives on scene first has patient care. If it’s AMR who is on scene first then they will have patient care from first point of contact until hand over at the ED. If it’s fire who has made patient contact first then they will be in charge of patient care until the transporting unit arrives. Once AMR arrives fire is supposed to hand over patient care as soon as possible, obviously within reason.

Call volumes will normally be high, however right now everything has slowed down. Once things return to normal you will be busy. It is not uncommon to run 8+ calls in a 12 hour shift. There are slower units and areas however you are unlikely to get on those units as they are filled with the long time employees.

AMR Riverside County has 3 different divisions. Riverside Division, Hemet/Pass Division, and Palm Springs/Desert Cities Division. I would highly recommend either Hemet or Palm Springs if the drive isn’t bad for you. I only have second hand info from Riverside division but based on what I have been hearing steadily for 10 years, I would avoid.

AMR San Bernardino has 3 divisions. Rancho (they have a 911 and a separate IFT division), Redlands, and Victorville. I have heard Redlands and Rancho divisions are not bad at all. I’ve heard mixed info on Victorville. My experience in San Bernardino is extremely limited.
 

Jn1232th

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Pretty much AMR areas mentioned above. There is also Ventura division with AMR/Gold Coast which run same type of way as riverside/San Bernardino areas. As for LA county there is really nothing unless it’s with a fire department.
Orange County is pretty much same. I currently work for a company in OC which honestly isnt as bad as I thought it would be. Most my calls are from snfs/board and cares. Half a BS but I have gotten really sick patients In 2-3 months I’ve been working there.
there is hall ambulance also which is in Bakersfield/mojave. But depending On where you live that might be a drive.
 

SandpitMedic

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I worked Rancho/Redlands for a while. Good times.
 

CentralCalEMT

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You can try Imperial in Tulare County. If you are commuting from the coastal part of LA county it is about a 3 hour commute. However, a company like Imperial works 48 and 72 hour shifts for their out of town employees. That way they only have to commute once a week. While 3 hours may seem like a lot, it is only once a week versus a daily commute for 12 hour shifts that can be an hour and a half if you hit traffic going to the IE. The call volume is moderate, and if you work in the southern part of the county where Imperial is, you are the sole ALS provider on scene. It is an excellent place to get experience with long transport times and a large number of high acuity calls.
 

RocketMedic

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Question about American (and everyone else's) 24s: is it 24 hours of straight time, or 8 at rate, 4 at 1.5x, 12 at 2x wage?
 

VCEMT

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In Ventura County, you are in charge. On occasion, a fire medic may want to retain care but, it’s not common. There’s a very good working relationship with all agencies in Ventura County. ALS units are on 24s with a few 12-hour day cars. The system is pretty much busy, especially, at Gold Coast. 12-hour day cars are used for move-ups and IFTs, they spend a majority of the day driving between different coverage areas.
 

RocketMedic

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In Ventura County, you are in charge. On occasion, a fire medic may want to retain care but, it’s not common. There’s a very good working relationship with all agencies in Ventura County. ALS units are on 24s with a few 12-hour day cars. The system is pretty much busy, especially, at Gold Coast. 12-hour day cars are used for move-ups and IFTs, they spend a majority of the day driving between different coverage areas.
How is the pay?
 
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