Municipal EMS employment in U.S.

[Carlos Danger]

At MCA only the RN's and RRT's fly......just the way they've always done it. They try to do ground CCT's the same way, but for scheduling reasons it isn't uncommon to have a RN/paramedic crew (with a EMT driver) dispatched on a CCT.

 

[theasianEMT]

At MCA only the RN's and RRT's fly......just the way they've always done it. They try to do ground CCT's the same way, but for scheduling reasons it isn't uncommon to have a RN/paramedic crew (with a EMT driver) dispatched on a CCT.

Do you think that'll ever change where they'll let the paramedics fly with the RN?

 

[Carlos Danger]

Do you think that'll ever change where they'll let the paramedics fly with the RN?

No. At least not anytime soon.

 

[theasianEMT]

No. At least not anytime soon.

Bummer I have heard though that's the way most places are going though

 

[Carlos Danger]

Bummer I have heard though that's the way most places are going though

I can think of a handful of programs that did not used to fly with paramedics that now do. Vanderbilt, Colorado, Duke, Baptist.......but MCA won't be one of them.

 

[46Young]

The pay isn't great in the Carolinas in general. Expect to start in the low to mid $30k for a yearly salary on a 56 hour workweek, which is $11/hr best case scenario. Charleston County EMS in South Carolina pays higher than most other places, around $40k to start IIRC, but where they blow away the 56 hour places (typically 24/48 with no Kelly days, great burnout potential) is that they've recently discontinued their 24 hr shifts, and now do 12's only, for a 42hr workweek, with a cap. of 16 consecutive hours! More EMS organizations need to follow this lead. All things being equal, if a department quotes a yearly salary of $36,608 on a 56 hour workweek, it's $11/hr. Your hourly rate at the same place on a 42 hr schedule is just under $16.50/hr. See the difference? Where it really gets costly is with your OT rates, which is $16.50 for the 56 hour person, and $24.75 for the 42 hour employee! If you only do 24 hrs of OT per month, the 56 hour pay is an extra $4,752, and for 42 hr pay it's an extra $7,128, a difference of $2,376. It gets even more maddening if the 56 hour employee goes back and re-calculates their pay based on the 42 hour pay rate. If the 42 hour employee averages 56 hour/week over then whole year (14 hours OT weekly), their yearly pay is $54,826! (36,608 + 18,108 in OT) This is how you get screwed working a 56 hour workweek. BTW, $36,608 x 1.5 = $54,912, so it can be said that a 42 hour employee working the same amount of hours as a 56 hr employee is making 1.5 the former's salary, same hours worked. The more OT the 42 hour person does, the wider the gap. Few people realize this, and are content with being able to work less days per week. This is how these employers get over on you.

If at all possible, avoid any place that has a 56 hour workweek. I'm fire based, so FLSA laws pay 53 hrs straight time and 3 hrs. OT on the average, so with the same quoted yearly salary, 53 hrs at $12.25/hr + 3 hrs at $18.375 = $36,627. So, if you're fire-based FLSA doing the 56 hour workweek, at least you get an extra $1.25/hr over the EMS only employee getting $11/hr on a 40 straight + 16 OT per week situation.

If Law Enforcement appeals to you, there's the Maryland State Troopers, and Fairfax County Police in VA, who both have LEO medics flying:

http://mdsp.maryland.gov/Careers/Pages/TrooperMedic.aspx

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/jobs/police-officer.htm

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/helicopter/

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/hr/pay-plan/fy16/oplan16.pdf

Fairfax Police is putting their people through our medic school along with some of our FF/EMT's, so they are hurting for medics, and they are also hurting for LEO's in general. The FD covers all needed hours for VA and NR recert, so I'm sure that you could maintain your P-card while putting in the required time to be eligible to fly.

I've actually toyed with the idea of moving from FFX Co. FRD to Fairfax County police, and fly on FFX1. Pay cut, but going from 24's to 12's would be a welcome change, and I'm getting very burnt out with ground ambulance txp. We are a "1&1" system, which means we are an all-ALS fleet, so we run mostly BLS and very non-acute patients. I only do real ALS on a patient maybe once a week at best, and I do a lot of OT.

 

[theasianEMT]

The pay isn't great in the Carolinas in general. Expect to start in the low to mid $30k for a yearly salary on a 56 hour workweek, which is $11/hr best case scenario. Charleston County EMS in South Carolina pays higher than most other places, around $40k to start IIRC, but where they blow away the 56 hour places (typically 24/48 with no Kelly days, great burnout potential) is that they've recently discontinued their 24 hr shifts, and now do 12's only, for a 42hr workweek, with a cap. of 16 consecutive hours! More EMS organizations need to follow this lead. All things being equal, if a department quotes a yearly salary of $36,608 on a 56 hour workweek, it's $11/hr. Your hourly rate at the same place on a 42 hr schedule is just under $16.50/hr. See the difference? Where it really gets costly is with your OT rates, which is $16.50 for the 56 hour person, and $24.75 for the 42 hour employee! If you only do 24 hrs of OT per month, the 56 hour pay is an extra $4,752, and for 42 hr pay it's an extra $7,128, a difference of $2,376. It gets even more maddening if the 56 hour employee goes back and re-calculates their pay based on the 42 hour pay rate. If the 42 hour employee averages 56 hour/week over then whole year (14 hours OT weekly), their yearly pay is $54,826! (36,608 + 18,108 in OT) This is how you get screwed working a 56 hour workweek. BTW, $36,608 x 1.5 = $54,912, so it can be said that a 42 hour employee working the same amount of hours as a 56 hr employee is making 1.5 the former's salary, same hours worked. The more OT the 42 hour person does, the wider the gap. Few people realize this, and are content with being able to work less days per week. This is how these employers get over on you.

If at all possible, avoid any place that has a 56 hour workweek. I'm fire based, so FLSA laws pay 53 hrs straight time and 3 hrs. OT on the average, so with the same quoted yearly salary, 53 hrs at $12.25/hr + 3 hrs at $18.375 = $36,627. So, if you're fire-based FLSA doing the 56 hour workweek, at least you get an extra $1.25/hr over the EMS only employee getting $11/hr on a 40 straight + 16 OT per week situation.

If Law Enforcement appeals to you, there's the Maryland State Troopers, and Fairfax County Police in VA, who both have LEO medics flying:

http://mdsp.maryland.gov/Careers/Pages/TrooperMedic.aspx

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/jobs/police-officer.htm

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/helicopter/

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/hr/pay-plan/fy16/oplan16.pdf

Fairfax Police is putting their people through our medic school along with some of our FF/EMT's, so they are hurting for medics, and they are also hurting for LEO's in general. The FD covers all needed hours for VA and NR recert, so I'm sure that you could maintain your P-card while putting in the required time to be eligible to fly.

I've actually toyed with the idea of moving from FFX Co. FRD to Fairfax County police, and fly on FFX1. Pay cut, but going from 24's to 12's would be a welcome change, and I'm getting very burnt out with ground ambulance txp. We are a "1&1" system, which means we are an all-ALS fleet, so we run mostly BLS and very non-acute patients. I only do real ALS on a patient maybe once a week at best, and I do a lot of OT.

Is that the starting pay of someone who is inexperienced in the Carolinas as a paramedic? Thank you for the detailed explanation btw. However I have not thought about being a police officer nor am I interested in law enforcement. I would much rather go the fire route than the police route in terms of being a medic. And the website does say it considers pay based on experience which I'm planning to get plenty of as a medic out here before moving.

 

[46Young]

http://www.wakegov.com/employment/salaryschedule/Pages/default.aspx

Band 4 is EMT-I, and Band 6 is a paramedic. This is Wake Co. NC, one the most highly regarded EMS employers in the Southeast and the country in general. So, medics get $33k to $56k, and it will take you a long time to get to $56k. This is typical of the Southeast.

Since you mentioned fire based, there are numerous departments in MD, Northen VA that start FF/EMT $45k and up, medics $55-$70k after finishing internship.

Fairfax County FRD pay scale, F18 is firefighter. Medics get step 3 after graduation, an additional 10% of 18/1 pay as a stipend, and $3/he to ride a medic, and $2/hr to ride a suppression unit as a medic:

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/hr/pay-plan/fy15/fy2015compensationplan.htm

Click on pay plan F

 

[reaper]

If your interested in SC look at Greenville county. Largest system in the state. Best pay and protocols. Very good experience for new medic.

Greenvillecounty.org

 

[theasianEMT]

If your interested in SC look at Greenville county. Largest system in the state. Best pay and protocols. Very good experience for new medic.

Greenvillecounty.org

I'll look into that, thanks! I think I'm looking more of North Carolina though...

 

[Imacho]

I'll look into that, thanks! I think I'm looking more of North Carolina though...

If you like the outdoors and outdoor activities, you'll love it here. Theres so much to do. The US National Whitewater Training Center is here in Charlotte. Its the official training site to the US Olympic Team. http://usnwc.org

 

[NCmedic]

We regularly hire new paramedics. Its a fast paced, high expectations, high reward system. Most new paramedics are successful as we provide a ton of training support to get you up to speed. We are growing rapidly, creating more advancement opportunities than the average system. Great state retirement system, competitive pay, that we evaluate regularly to stay aggressive for our region. Charlotte has relatively low cost of living. We are not a 100% true SSM, more like a modified system status management. Nearly every post location has crew quarters, if you see a truck parked at CVS, its because they are choosing to do so on their own. We aren't perfect, but we do offer a lot. I'm happy to answer any questions you have, I manage our recruitment, hiring, and onboarding so I should be able to answer anything you ask. I won't spin answers either, I want to hire clinicians that are making informed decisions about their employment with honest information. It does me, or a candidate no good to spoon feed sunshine and unicorns to get them to move across country only to come here, hate it and move back.

And the offer goes to anyone looking for information about Medic. We are beginning a huge hiring push to combat the huge increase in call volume we have been seeing recently.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[theasianEMT]

We regularly hire new paramedics. Its a fast paced, high expectations, high reward system. Most new paramedics are successful as we provide a ton of training support to get you up to speed. We are growing rapidly, creating more advancement opportunities than the average system. Great state retirement system, competitive pay, that we evaluate regularly to stay aggressive for our region. Charlotte has relatively low cost of living. We are not a 100% true SSM, more like a modified system status management. Nearly every post location has crew quarters, if you see a truck parked at CVS, its because they are choosing to do so on their own. We aren't perfect, but we do offer a lot. I'm happy to answer any questions you have, I manage our recruitment, hiring, and onboarding so I should be able to answer anything you ask. I won't spin answers either, I want to hire clinicians that are making informed decisions about their employment with honest information. It does me, or a candidate no good to spoon feed sunshine and unicorns to get them to move across country only to come here, hate it and move back.

And the offer goes to anyone looking for information about Medic. We are beginning a huge hiring push to combat the huge increase in call volume we have been seeing recently.

Thanks,

Eric

Thank you for the information Eric, I really do appreciate your candor. How often do you guys hire new paramedics? I will probably be going to paramedic school in late 2016 and try to find a job afterwards.

 

[46Young]

If your interested in SC look at Greenville county. Largest system in the state. Best pay and protocols. Very good experience for new medic.

Greenvillecounty.org

Pay scale looks really good for the area, and the 42 hr. schedule is definitely a plus. They incentivize holding an EMS degree as well:

https://www.greenvillecounty.org/Emergency_Medical_Services/pdf/GCEMS_salary_ranges.pdf

Do they do 24's, 12's, or something different?

OP, if they do 24's, it's ;likely a 24/72 or something similar. It looks like Charlotte NC is two hours away, so making two round trips every 8 days, and less if you take leave is definitely do-able, if you would prefer to live in Charlotte instead of Greenville.

 

[reaper]

It is all 12's. Rotating, every other weekend off. OT is never a problem. Cost of living is average for the area. 2 hours to atlanta, 1.5 hours to Charlotte, 3 hours to Charleston. 30 minutes to mountains. Greenville constantly in top ten cities to live in.

 

[46Young]

I'm really liking this trend of departments going to 42 hr schedules with 12 hr. shifts! Kudos to Greenville and Charleston, and ATC-EMS if they get their act together and do like the other two.

That wouldn't be a bad retirement spot for me, pick up a PT position, and still have the majority of my week off to enjoy retirement. Working txp on another fire based department after retirement would depress me - it's much better when you're working with people where the majority like doing EMS, instead of the mixed bag in the fire service, where some like it, but many just see it as a necessary evil. I thought about prepping for a post-retirement management level position in fire/EMS, but the idea of doing PT or per diem ambulance work to have a lot of free time but still stay in the game is growing more appealing by the day. FT no, it would burn me out, but a 12 hr shift every 4 days on the average is easy to do. Retirement's not for another 14-15 years though.

 

[46Young]

If I can get my 457 high enough, I might take an early 20 year retirement and apply for Greenville and Charleston (if they offer PT/per diem). I loved living in Charleston, and I do hear that Greenville is very desirable as well.Hit 20 yrs, then start applying. Northern Virginia is a great place to make mountains of cash in Emergency
Services, but not much else. It's just "meh"

 

[NCmedic]

Thank you for the information Eric, I really do appreciate your candor. How often do you guys hire new paramedics? I will probably be going to paramedic school in late 2016 and try to find a job afterwards.

Usually we do one orientation a quarter, but I will be ramping up to five a year shortly. Call volume is growing faster than I can hire and train Medics. If you are not tied down to moving next year or after paramedic school we hire EMTs and our community college's paramedic program is gear around our shift schedule. They offer both the certificate program and associated degree.

 

[theasianEMT]

Usually we do one orientation a quarter, but I will be ramping up to five a year shortly. Call volume is growing faster than I can hire and train Medics. If you are not tied down to moving next year or after paramedic school we hire EMTs and our community college's paramedic program is gear around our shift schedule. They offer both the certificate program and associated degree.

I'm finishing up my bachelor degree and cannot leave this instant unfortunately. I have a couple of semesters left. Once I'm finished however I have no problem moving if it means a job opportunity arises such as that. Do you guys promote EMTs then to the medic position pending completion of the course?

 

[NCmedic]

I'm finishing up my bachelor degree and cannot leave this instant unfortunately. I have a couple of semesters left. Once I'm finished however I have no problem moving if it means a job opportunity arises such as that. Do you guys promote EMTs then to the medic position pending completion of the course?

Completely understand that. The program starts every August currently. Once you complete your state or NR testing your upgrade to Paramedic is really simple if you go through the local program. You just take the local scope of practice testing and a few check ride shifts with an FTO. From there you can begin to work on upgrading to Relief Crew Chief(+5%) and then Crew Chief (additional +10%)