Hey all, long time lurker first time poster. Just writing to ask advice/vent about the current situation I am in with regards to my company.
For legal concerns and concerns about keeping my job I'll leave out my companies name.
I moved back down to Orange County about 3 months ago, as I was having a lot of trouble getting on ANYWHERE in an EMT capacity, I applied to ER Tech Jobs, Dialysis Tech, everything. I move down to OC and I'm on with a company within 3 weeks.
The company that hired me is a brand new company, we only have 3 rigs at the moment and 2 wheel chair vans. Obviously we'll only be doing BLS transports and IFT's for at least a year until we may or may not be able to get a CCT up and running. The hours are great (MWF or TTS 24 hours) which makes the below average pay ($9.00/hr) actually pretty damn good. The opportunity to start up with a brand new company and influence it's growth and become an integral member of the company is amazing.
One little hitch. After our orientation, we were supposed to get our field training out of the way the following week and transition straight into full blown operations. Only problem is, the BLS director for OC EMS changed, and felt he needed to pass our company through inspections once again (the company having already passed inspections and being cleared for operations before). So OC EMS comes out and does their inspections, all our rigs pass (I personally came out to wash, detail, and inventory all 3 rigs), our policies and procedures had one minor thing that didn't please them but it was easily fixed and passed. Then it came down to our GOM and another person in the company (I don't even know his title, just being real), were required to have livescans. OC EMS stated it can take anywhere from 3-14 days (business), and to sit tight.
This was 5 weeks ago. I'm at the point where I'm going to be homeless, bills are racking up, and I'm out of options (It took me a year and a half just to find this job, I can't easily go out and just snag a job at Care who just picked up the new OC fire contract, or Lynch or PRN etc, and even if I could I don't have a vehicle at the moment which is why my current company is somewhat of a miracle (within a reasonable bike riding distance)). I call two or three times a week to get updates on whether or not we've been cleared for operations, to which I always get the reply there's no word on it yet. My GOM who i believe is actually looking out for us, has offered to "loan" us out to a company running 24 hour BLS transport shifts in LA, but transportation makes that just not an option for me. We're apparently getting the wheel chair van(s) up and running within the next 7 days so I'll be able to HOPEFULLY get 40 hours a week doing that in the interim.
My main concern is, 5 weeks for a live scan? I don't feel that the people I am talking to are being completely honest with myself or the other employees, and that there is something else going on preventing us from starting operations. I feel like either 1. A critical fail or suspicious entry popped up on the live scans that they're having to further investigate or 2. There weren't any live scans required in the first place and there was a critical fail somewhere else that is going to take some serious time to remedy.
My current plight is this. Would it be kosher if I were to call OC EMS myself and see if (anonymously hopefully) I could get the whole story or at least enough information to where I'd get some peace of mind regarding the situation, negative or positive knowing is better than not knowing. Or would that potentially make the situation worse when they ask who and why I am calling to obtain the information and I inform them that I'm an EMT working (sigh), for said company and we've been on unpaid hold for 5 weeks.
I already know the majority of knee jerk reactions to this post are going to be "ditch the company" etc, but my with my transportation situation and direct lack of experience on an actual rig or practicing as an EMT in any capacity, I view this job as a god send. I hadn't worked for 3 years before I got hired on here, so I definitely feel a bit of pull to be loyal and stick through the hard times with them. If you've read this far thank you very much, and thank you as well for any and all advice to come.
For legal concerns and concerns about keeping my job I'll leave out my companies name.
I moved back down to Orange County about 3 months ago, as I was having a lot of trouble getting on ANYWHERE in an EMT capacity, I applied to ER Tech Jobs, Dialysis Tech, everything. I move down to OC and I'm on with a company within 3 weeks.
The company that hired me is a brand new company, we only have 3 rigs at the moment and 2 wheel chair vans. Obviously we'll only be doing BLS transports and IFT's for at least a year until we may or may not be able to get a CCT up and running. The hours are great (MWF or TTS 24 hours) which makes the below average pay ($9.00/hr) actually pretty damn good. The opportunity to start up with a brand new company and influence it's growth and become an integral member of the company is amazing.
One little hitch. After our orientation, we were supposed to get our field training out of the way the following week and transition straight into full blown operations. Only problem is, the BLS director for OC EMS changed, and felt he needed to pass our company through inspections once again (the company having already passed inspections and being cleared for operations before). So OC EMS comes out and does their inspections, all our rigs pass (I personally came out to wash, detail, and inventory all 3 rigs), our policies and procedures had one minor thing that didn't please them but it was easily fixed and passed. Then it came down to our GOM and another person in the company (I don't even know his title, just being real), were required to have livescans. OC EMS stated it can take anywhere from 3-14 days (business), and to sit tight.
This was 5 weeks ago. I'm at the point where I'm going to be homeless, bills are racking up, and I'm out of options (It took me a year and a half just to find this job, I can't easily go out and just snag a job at Care who just picked up the new OC fire contract, or Lynch or PRN etc, and even if I could I don't have a vehicle at the moment which is why my current company is somewhat of a miracle (within a reasonable bike riding distance)). I call two or three times a week to get updates on whether or not we've been cleared for operations, to which I always get the reply there's no word on it yet. My GOM who i believe is actually looking out for us, has offered to "loan" us out to a company running 24 hour BLS transport shifts in LA, but transportation makes that just not an option for me. We're apparently getting the wheel chair van(s) up and running within the next 7 days so I'll be able to HOPEFULLY get 40 hours a week doing that in the interim.
My main concern is, 5 weeks for a live scan? I don't feel that the people I am talking to are being completely honest with myself or the other employees, and that there is something else going on preventing us from starting operations. I feel like either 1. A critical fail or suspicious entry popped up on the live scans that they're having to further investigate or 2. There weren't any live scans required in the first place and there was a critical fail somewhere else that is going to take some serious time to remedy.
My current plight is this. Would it be kosher if I were to call OC EMS myself and see if (anonymously hopefully) I could get the whole story or at least enough information to where I'd get some peace of mind regarding the situation, negative or positive knowing is better than not knowing. Or would that potentially make the situation worse when they ask who and why I am calling to obtain the information and I inform them that I'm an EMT working (sigh), for said company and we've been on unpaid hold for 5 weeks.
I already know the majority of knee jerk reactions to this post are going to be "ditch the company" etc, but my with my transportation situation and direct lack of experience on an actual rig or practicing as an EMT in any capacity, I view this job as a god send. I hadn't worked for 3 years before I got hired on here, so I definitely feel a bit of pull to be loyal and stick through the hard times with them. If you've read this far thank you very much, and thank you as well for any and all advice to come.
