New England EMS

[RocketMedic]

My employer routinely puts ALS crews out of service to take wheelchair convenience calls. It sucks. It is not what I got into this field for. And they don't want to change because *reasons*. And that's the high end! Critical care paramedic wheelchair ascot, please.

There's good employers out here too, but they either lack the pay/benefits, lifestyle enticements or 'mojo' to make them viable career places, or they're just not hiring at the moment, or they're so far away as to be essentially in another state. And it's Texas in the summer. And a significant part of me is just tired of the traffic, the smog, the swamp and not being able to *go* many places because my wife and I are on different schedules and everything costs time and money we don't have because her job accrues PTO at glacial speeds and every trip starts with a 250+ mile "been there done that" zone. I'm bored of Houston and want to move.

Y'all in CA got your hackles up over paid lunch breaks; such things are unknown here. Your state has a lot of big corporate providers running 12-hour shifts, or some permutation thereof, for the majority of their providers; here that's a rare breed (most of the state's agencies are on long-hour shifts, 24/48s with a speckling of 24/72), and y'all have nice things in your (expensive) backyards...here, we've got to drive a Long Ways to get to anything that isn't the Sam Houston Forest or the swamp or a brown-water sewer. Yep, Austin is nice and the Hill Country and San Antonio are awesome...but they're 250 miles away from me in Houston and I miss nice places. And I'm kind of reaching that point where the depth of the medicine isn't really my biggest concern in life. Especially when the drive to push the limits leaves a lot of fundamentals under-done. Sure, CA might not be awesome or even particularly great, but one three or four-day weekend with my wife could see us anywhere from the Pacific Ocean to Yosemite or Mt. Whitney. Without hurricanes, swarms of mosquitos and only occasional hobo poop.

Back to New England- my old partner from Creek moved to MA and works on the Cape. Lots of fun, and he spends his time fishing, recreating and travelling the Northeast. Sounds awesome, and I'd like to get in on that.

 

[RocketMedic]

I am just slowly growing my own service...give me another 18-24 months and I will start recruiting all ya'll like minded individuals. I have already made waves in this state and I intend to rock the boat much harder. So disappointed at how bass ackwards it is, and as always, if I want it done right, I will do it myself.

We put non-dead people on Autovent 3000s here. It's pretty bass ackwards. Like...y'all know an AHP300 or OTwo e700 are literally cheaper than the extra day (or even few hours) of ICU time that you're risking with a crappy vent? For a hospital-based service, you'd think a basic cost-benefit analysis would show them the light...

 

[Bullets]

Back to New England- my old partner from Creek moved to MA and works on the Cape. Lots of fun, and he spends his time fishing, recreating and travelling the Northeast. Sounds awesome, and I'd like to get in on that.

As much as i have issues with my state, i really have a hard time leaving it for another. I get paid decently well for the industry, accrue plenty of PTO and sick time and work for a large, stable hospital corporation in a department that my management generally leaves us alone. I work 12hr Pittman schedules and get every other weekend as a 3 days weekend, working 15 days a month. Our Doctors are pretty progressive, they do research and let us do cool thing.

I live 2 miles from the beach on the edge of a massive preserved forest, but i have 2 major cities within an hour drive, i can be in low mountains and small ski areas in 2, and major ones with 4. And when the job gets stressful, hitch up the boat and drive north for a few hours to an amazing lake and cabin with no cell service and turn off the world. I can hook strippers and rainbow trout in the same day, hike a trail and dive on a shipwreck too. Ive known a medic or two to keep a rod and reel in the back of the unit and wet a line on their downtime. Sure we get tourists in the summer coming for the beach, but on a day like today, in mid May, its 75 and sunny out, i can park my medic unit at the boardwalk, throw open the doors and watch the surfers and the waves break, its hard to find a reason why i would want to leave this place for less money and an unknown system.

 

[RocketMedic]

As much as i have issues with my state, i really have a hard time leaving it for another. I get paid decently well for the industry, accrue plenty of PTO and sick time and work for a large, stable hospital corporation in a department that my management generally leaves us alone. I work 12hr Pittman schedules and get every other weekend as a 3 days weekend, working 15 days a month. Our Doctors are pretty progressive, they do research and let us do cool thing.

I live 2 miles from the beach on the edge of a massive preserved forest, but i have 2 major cities within an hour drive, i can be in low mountains and small ski areas in 2, and major ones with 4. And when the job gets stressful, hitch up the boat and drive north for a few hours to an amazing lake and cabin with no cell service and turn off the world. I can hook strippers and rainbow trout in the same day, hike a trail and dive on a shipwreck too. Ive known a medic or two to keep a rod and reel in the back of the unit and wet a line on their downtime. Sure we get tourists in the summer coming for the beach, but on a day like today, in mid May, its 75 and sunny out, i can park my medic unit at the boardwalk, throw open the doors and watch the surfers and the waves break, its hard to find a reason why i would want to leave this place for less money and an unknown system.

That's pretty much what I'm after.

EDIT: Still no health insurance. Definitely paying for it, showing as enrolled, but still no health insurance...

 

[hometownmedic5]

The fire departments in Massachusetts can’t catch their limit of paramedics, so if thats something you want, you’d be a walk on to any non civil service department.

There isnt much in the way of non fire government services. A few, but they are in the bare minority and one of them wont hire you as a paramedic. You have to promote from wishing, a process that can take years.

There has been a drastic uptick in wages in the privates in the past few years. Some say it’s not enough, some say its too little too late, but its been a good few years money wise. Working conditions haven’t improved any. It’s still life in the privates, but at least I’m making a living now.

 

[Tigger]

The fire departments in Massachusetts can’t catch their limit of paramedics, so if thats something you want, you’d be a walk on to any non civil service department.

There isnt much in the way of non fire government services. A few, but they are in the bare minority and one of them wont hire you as a paramedic. You have to promote from wishing, a process that can take years.

There has been a drastic uptick in wages in the privates in the past few years. Some say it’s not enough, some say its too little too late, but its been a good few years money wise. Working conditions haven’t improved any. It’s still life in the privates, but at least I’m making a living now.

The list of third/hospital services is pretty short. As best as I can remember: Worcester, Billerica, Webster, Northern Berkshire, Lawrence General, Lowell/Saints General, South Shore Hospital.

The Cape/Islands have some paramedic-only roles but it's not exactly an affordable place to live. Lower Cape Ambulance, Mattapoisett PD, and all of the Vineyard have paid paramedics.

 

[NomadicMedic]

At the end of the day you have to decide if the place where you’re living it’s what’s making you happy or not. Pennsylvania is certainly not the end-all, be all in the world of EMS … But it’s a great place to live, the schools are awesome, I have a lot of freedom at my job and my wife loves what she does.

We don’t RSI, we are waiting for a ketamine analgesia protocol, we still use autovents, the medicine is less than outstanding… But that’s not the important part to me. The important part is the fact that I can make things better slowly but surely, there is growth potential at my service and I love living here.

Stop looking for the unicorn, find a place where you can live and make a life and then work your plan.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Stop looking for the unicorn, find a place where you can live and make a life and then work your plan.

So much this. Folks who try to use their work as their primary source of happiness and satisfaction in life tend to stay unfulfilled (and often quite miserable), IME. There's always something about your current job that sucks, and always something that looks better somewhere else.

 

[RocketMedic]

At the end of the day you have to decide if the place where you’re living it’s what’s making you happy or not. Pennsylvania is certainly not the end-all, be all in the world of EMS … But it’s a great place to live, the schools are awesome, I have a lot of freedom at my job and my wife loves what she does.

We don’t RSI, we are waiting for a ketamine analgesia protocol, we still use autovents, the medicine is less than outstanding… But that’s not the important part to me. The important part is the fact that I can make things better slowly but surely, there is growth potential at my service and I love living here.

Stop looking for the unicorn, find a place where you can live and make a life and then work your plan.

It’s not the place, but I’m bored of Houston. Somewhere that I can go from home to a city or a nice beach or a mountain or a lake in a reasonable amount of time sounds outstanding.

 

[TransportJockey]

Man, even the “Texas Boys” are getting fed up with what they once toted?

I’m gonna go ahead and stick to my mantra that this job ends at the BioClock for me...at least.

I love the medicine in Texas. And I love the fact that I work as a municipal third service paramedic... but some of the attitudes out here, especially in a smaller city like I live in, are annoying. And outright exclusive if you're not from the area. I do like the Houston metro, and once I get my credit together I might even buy a house in the city I cover... but I'm fed up with no upward advancement.

 

[medichopeful]

The list of third/hospital services is pretty short. As best as I can remember: Worcester, Billerica, Webster, Northern Berkshire, Lawrence General, Lowell/Saints General, South Shore Hospital.

The Cape/Islands have some paramedic-only roles but it's not exactly an affordable place to live. Lower Cape Ambulance, Mattapoisett PD, and all of the Vineyard have paid paramedics.

Northern Berkshire actually isn't 3rd service or hospital based. They are a decent service though, I did most of my medic ride-time with them. Boston is another 3rd-service.

There are some pretty interesting services in CT if you're interested in that area.

 

[PotatoMedic]

I am just slowly growing my own service...give me another 18-24 months and I will start recruiting all ya'll like minded individuals. I have already made waves in this state and I intend to rock the boat much harder. So disappointed at how bass ackwards it is, and as always, if I want it done right, I will do it myself.

I'd love to come work for you. But it will be hard to convince my wife to come that way. She like being close to family too much.

 

[Tigger]

Northern Berkshire actually isn't 3rd service or hospital based. They are a decent service though, I did most of my medic ride-time with them. Boston is another 3rd-service.

There are some pretty interesting services in CT if you're interested in that area.

I see they have a board of directors, are they not for profit or something else?

 

[medichopeful]

I see they have a board of directors, are they not for profit or something else?

They’re a not-for-profit. It used to be North Adams EMS, then they merged with Adams and (I believe) Village Ambulance.