Moving from NYC to Orlando FL

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Yaritza Abreu

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Hi everyone,

I'm currently a EMT and paramedic student in NYC and am looking into moving to Florida after I graduate. I am taking a trip over this summer to visit different agencies to ask questions but I thought maybe you guys can be helpful. I wanted to know what your ems systems are like ? Are the only options available either private or hospital ? Does everyone do transports/transfers or are there any strictly 911 companies ? What are some good companies out there to look at ? Would you say the paramedic salary is decent ? Is the reciprocity process easy ?

Thanks !
 
Florida is heavily Fire based. If you wanna work a 911 rig, plan on getting your Fire certs from a Florida college and applying to a fire department. From what I understand, Florida starting in 2017 has dropped their state test and started accepting National Registry for reciprocity.


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Move farther North in FL. Mostly third service in the northern areas.

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I worked both private and public sector in Orlando. @NightHealer865 hit the nail on the head with having to be part of a Fire based system if you want to do any 911 EMS. The private sector is primary all IFTs at this point. Orange County Fire does on occasion hire a Paramedic only position, but it does come with the stipulation that you have to get your Fire cert within 3 years or get canned. As far as EMS goes I agree there are better areas to work then the central FL region, but you can't beat the location outside of that, Great area to live!
 
In NYC although they have hospital 911 systems their primary system is also through the Fire Department but to actually be accepted in the EMS side of the FDNY it takes about 2 years. After that you go to their academy for 3 months. Is the wait also that long in Florida ? If getting into county fire is too difficult what are some other places to check out even just for transports for the beginning of my ems career in Florida ?
 
I know Lee county is hiring right now.

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Lake EMS is a county 3rd service close to Orlando. So is EVAC (Volusia Co).
 
Yaritza Abreu said:
In NYC although they have hospital 911 systems their primary system is also through the Fire Department but to actually be accepted in the EMS side of the FDNY it takes about 2 years. After that you go to their academy for 3 months. Is the wait also that long in Florida ? If getting into county fire is too difficult what are some other places to check out even just for transports for the beginning of my ems career in Florida ?
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Yea as stated above there are plenty of places outside of Orlando and inside like AMR and Falck. You'll just have to do some research and see what appeals to you?
 
There are primarily two major private ambulance services in Orlando. They primarily do IFT. However Rural/Metro Ambulance is one of them and they have a contract with a few municipalities to run their 911 calls. They also do 911 for Universal Studios and the airport. City of Orlando also utilizes Rural/Metro ambulances for mostly BLS 911 calls when their units are busy. Of course getting a spot on the 911 trucks is based on seniority. RMA also is the sole provider for 911 EMS for Sumter County which is 2 counties away from Orlando. I worked for Rural/Metro as a dispatcher a couple years ago so I can answer some of the questions you may have. Pretty much everything else in the Orlando area is Fire/Rescue where you have to have your fire standards. I can't comment on salaries. I know alot of people have trouble with the reciprocity but it can be done. Example- an EMT with the department I am with now moved to Florida. The state he came from requires their EMT's to take and pass the NREMT text. Florida also requires the same thing. However when he transferred to FL, FL would not take his NREMT scores. He had to retake the NREMT (exactly the same test he took and passed already) to be certified in FL.
If you are only wanting to do EMS, and not get your fire standards, you could work for RMA. Now that they were bought out by AMR you have a wider list of locations to transfer to if you were to move out of the Orlando area.
Someone mentioned Lake EMS, they are also a good choice, but they do not hire alot...I think they try to hire within.
 
Cleaned up the thread a little. Removed posts that... didn't contribute to the overall topic.
 
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