Paramedic With Rural Metro In Colorado/Oregon/Washington

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LARHIndy76

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I have been an employee with Rural Metro in Indiana for 6.5 years, starting off as an ATS driver while I was in EMT class then moving onto a 911 truck with a fire department as an EMT. I have been a firefighter for almost 2 years and will be completing Paramedic school in January then taking my final in February. I am considering a transfer w/RM to CO once I get my license, but am wondering if there are better places to work, especially in the Colorado Springs or Canon City area. RM is a pretty bad place to work here in IN, but I've heard that it's better in some states than others. Real, honest feedback would be appreciated!
 
AFAIK, RM is in Aurora, not the Springs. The Springs is run by AMR, with some smaller communities being services by other agencies. R/M in Aurora is an EMS transport only agency, with (last I heard) not the best relationship with AFD
 
Do you know how AMR stands with the community and what they are like to work for?
 
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As far as I know... and AMR, American Medical Response. No idea what they are like to work for, as I worked for a different private service in teh area. As far as standing in the community, I know FD does not like them, which doesn't help their standing

I really need to learn to read better... AMR has a great relationship with county and are sworn in similar to the FD in the area. It's also our flagship operation in the country.
 
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So as a firefighter/paramedic it would probably be better for me to look into getting on a FD in Colorado Springs or Canon City?
 
Thread title edited to merge three identical threads.
 
LARHIndy76 said:
So as a firefighter/paramedic it would probably be better for me to look into getting on a FD in Colorado Springs or Canon City?
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If you want to do that, yes. I have no interest in fire so that's a personal choice. But as said, AMR in the Springs is a much better choice than RM
 
LARHIndy76 said:
Do you know how AMR stands with the community and what they are like to work for?
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TransportJockey said:
As far as I know... and AMR, American Medical Response. No idea what they are like to work for, as I worked for a different private service in teh area. As far as standing in the community, I know FD does not like them, which doesn't help their standing
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LARHIndy76 said:
So as a firefighter/paramedic it would probably be better for me to look into getting on a FD in Colorado Springs or Canon City?
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All things considered I'd say that AMR and Colorado Springs Fire have a pretty good relationship compared to other ALS FDs with "scene control" and a contracted EMS transportation service. CSFD has chosen to get out of the county ambulance contract and pursue its own contract ambulance service so they can have more control over ambulance operations. AMR, R/M, and Faulk all bid on it, and it will be released in April. The El Paso County AMR operation is well regarded with an excellent medical director (my agency shares with AMR).

AMR Pueblo is also well regarded, and the FDs in Pueblo and Canon City are BLS only. The Pueblo operation manages the Canon City/Fremont County contract, which is not very big. AMR also does 911 in Boulder and Longmont counties, and IFT in Denver.

As mentioned Rural Metro has the Aurora 911 system, which sounds dreadful. They also have a small IFT operation in Colorado Springs and run some small 911 contracts in the Denver metro.
 
Would you recommend the service you worked for? It's not set in stone that I have to move to Colorado Springs, although that is where my extended family lives.
 
Absolutely, but we haven't hired anyone in four years for a fulltime position and those that are have nearly all put in serious time at AMR Colorado Springs while a part time employee. We are a very small service with only 16 fulltime employees.
 
Tigger said:
Absolutely, but we haven't hired anyone in four years for a fulltime position and those that are have nearly all put in serious time at AMR Colorado Springs while a part time employee. We are a very small service with only 16 fulltime employees.
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That's really fantastic and speaks to the quality of the employer and employees! I'm FT on a 911 FD truck w/RM and PT FF w/my township fire department and our turnover rate at both is ridiculous! There's a process every six months or more! I hope I can find a great place like you have found ^_^
 
TransportJockey said:
As far as I know... and AMR, American Medical Response. No idea what they are like to work for, as I worked for a different private service in teh area. As far as standing in the community, I know FD does not like them, which doesn't help their standing

I really need to learn to read better... AMR has a great relationship with county and are sworn in similar to the FD in the area. It's also our flagship operation in the country.
Click to expand...

Glassdoor has more reviews for AMR than RM, but they rank about the same, which is ~2.3 w/under 35% referring friends. May I ask which service you work for? I'm pretty laid back compared to many employees, but I've had about enough of RMIN. Obviously a transfer would be the easiest, but not if it's going to be the same poor management all over again. I'm really lucky to be on a 911 FD truck via contract, but I'm going to lose my seniority (I'm the #1 EMT right now) once I become a paramedic, which means I'm also going to most likely lose my truck. Although the FD wants to take over their own ambulances and the people on them or go to dual Paramedics. That's all great, but I'm still moving in a year or so. At 44 I can't go to a perf FD and I'm currently a PT FF w/my township via a grant. I'll take what I can get, but I'd like to work for a good company, private or public!
 
I'm a field supervisor for AMR in NM. I have deployed on disasters and personnel shortages w/ Springs AMR people and they have had nothing but good to say about their operation. I've also looked at transferring there and when I went to look at it, it looked amazing. With AMR a lot of the issues depend on the attitude of the enviroment you're working in. I know 1 of 3 AMRs in my state (all under the same overall mgmt) is a wreck, but the other one (that isn't mine) is a fun place to work.
 
TransportJockey said:
I'm a field supervisor for AMR in NM. I have deployed on disasters and personnel shortages w/ Springs AMR people and they have had nothing but good to say about their operation. I've also looked at transferring there and when I went to look at it, it looked amazing. With AMR a lot of the issues depend on the attitude of the enviroment you're working in. I know 1 of 3 AMRs in my state (all under the same overall mgmt) is a wreck, but the other one (that isn't mine) is a fun place to work.
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Well I'm pretty laid back...I like to do my job and not be micro-managed so AMR in CS sounds like it might be a pretty good fit. The only AMR here in IN is in Evansville, which is 3 hours away. I also did 25 years w/the Indiana Army National Guard and have done my fair share of disaster work. I will definitely have to check them out in CS. Thanks for your input!
 
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Don't forget R/M and Pridemark Paramedics are the same company in CO. If you don't want to work in Aurora, Pridemark has the 911 contracts for Wheat Ridge, Edgewater, and Fairmount. Not huge contracts but options. Also, working in Aurora with AFD isn't as bad as most people say it is. If you are a newer medic, it is a good start. R/M also has a lot of contracts in the Denver Metro area including Kaiser Permanente which is huge.
 
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