Paramedic programs in LA County

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EmergencyMedicalSike

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Anyone know any good PM programs here in LA County? I’ve considered and was even saving up for UCLA’s program but I realized I’m not about to easily fork over almost $12k.
 
Move to Texas and be a real medic, without firefighting even!

Way cheaper here. Lone Star College medic course is like $5k IIRC and you can do cool stuff like give meds without orders, RSI, field blood transfusions, play with ketamine and vents and stuff, etc. Also, Texas BBQ and guns and freedom and rodeos and low taxes and no state income tax and country music and lower costs of living and way more good employers. Also also, we have good beer and cold tubeable rivers.
 
Yeah UCLA is costly plus the application process can be annoying as well. PTI and Mt Sac are also available. Mt sac can hook it up with the bog waiver, which is nice.
 
@EmergencyMedicalSike you don’t have to limit yourself to LA County programs even if you live in Los Angeles County. There are a good handful in the Inland Empire, one in Kern County, and yep, even Saddleback College in Orange County.

Most of the above are junior colleges that offer associates options at a much more affordable cost per unit/ better-mileage-long-term than UCLA. I would avoid PTI like the plague, but that’s just a personal opinion I have.

Once you’re done you can be a “real” paramedic regardless of your state, county, blee bloo blah. I’m not sure what you’re looking for in the long run, but if it’s making a career out of being a field paramedic, Texas is undoubtedly the place to be one (though there certainly are plenty of other states where it’s doable).

That said, Texans are no more—or less—a paramedic than anyone else on here, just ask them come summertime;)...
 
VentMonkey said:
Inland Empire
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Crafton hills college is ~5k. They take the bog waiver and FASFA. Plus your credits/ units can account towards a AS degree.
 
As a new grad medic, you can make 50k starting here
 
TransportJockey said:
And afford more than a small apartment, which is basically and attic that may (or may not) include a Murphy bed.
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Fixed it, TJ. Luckily COL in Kern County is about half of what SoCal is, so it’s more or less equivalent to where you all are saying a new medic would start off in Tejás. We’re all getting a 5% raise next month as well.

Is it Texas medicine-wise? No, but it’s definitely worlds apart from how I grew up, in and outside of EMS. It’s definitely not a bad start for a newer EMT/ paramedic as well.
 
On a serious note- if you want to be a fire medic in LA, stay in SoCal. If not, move.
 
On a serious note, medic school is way easier here in terms of clinical internships and the like. No waiting months for an internship here.
 
RocketMedic said:
On a serious note, medic school is way easier here in terms of clinical internships and the like. No waiting months for an internship here.
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Does CCEMS have their own paramedic program?

ETA~ I do believe the Bako (BC) medic students (specifically Hall sponsored employees) get granted internships fairly quickly. No waiting months here either.
 
Yep, we do lol. But even the community college programs have great clinical affiliations.
 
RocketMedic said:
On a serious note, medic school is way easier here in terms of clinical internships and the like. No waiting months for an internship here.
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This is not true of the vast majority of paramedic programs in CA. There are a couple that have known issues (cough cough NCTI) but the vast majority have zero issues. I was scheduled for all of my clinical shifts about 2 days after passing my finals and was assigned for my internship while I was still in the clinical phase.
 
Ah, well, balderdash then
 
DesertMedic66 said:
This is not true of the vast majority of paramedic programs in CA. There are a couple that have known issues (cough cough NCTI) but the vast majority have zero issues. I was scheduled for all of my clinical shifts about 2 days after passing my finals and was assigned for my internship while I was still in the clinical phase.
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Best part about having AMR pay for your medic school. You get pushed to the front of the line ;)
 
exodus said:
Best part about having AMR pay for your medic school. You get pushed to the front of the line ;)
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Not quite. The class that my partner is in is having trouble with finding preceptors. NCTI approached Crafton and Victor Valley and asked if they could use their preceptors to which they were denied and then were pretty denied by ICEMA for doing internships anywhere in their region.

There is a lot of drama going on right now with the current class who is supposed to be starting their clinical time, to the point it was taken to NCTI main headquarters and AMR main headquarters.
 
Perfect example to go to Crafton or RCC. Even though at the end of the day the curriculum is all the same I've heard too many horror stories from NCTI students waiting 3+ months for clinical sites and field preceptors. I immediately went to clinical sites and immediately started my field internship.

In all reality NCTI shoots themselves in the foot when they accept 60 students...
 
I'm trying to get my head around going to paramedic school here in LA County, but the cost of living in outrageous! I live here in Long Beach and just started my EMT job looking into the future for paramedic classes, but i'm trying to find a way for the financing with schooling as well as living. Realistically, you're looking at eight to nine month program wherever you decide to go - right(?). While you're in class what happens to the rest of your expenses? I guess my question to anyone who's willing to shed some light on my problem is -- How did you afford life while in school? UCLA's program is - lets call it $13k (classes and national testing). That's 13k plus, I don't know $1,400 for rent and amenities (x 10 weeks = , transportation ($350), weekly necessities ($100). == Almost $40k! My lord...

How did you guys financially get through 10-12 months (adding a couple extra months for cushion) while in paramedic school? Unfortunately, i'll do whatever it takes, but i'm having a tough time compartmentalizing over here.

HELP!
 
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