Questions about moving West

[Burritomedic1127]

I'm a paramedic in New England that works for a high call volume 911 city based private and might have an opportunity to work as a Fire Medic. Working fire based is not my first choice but we all know the story about a pension. Before the opportunity I was looking at moving and working in Colorado. Couple companies I was interested in we're Summit County Ambulance, Eagle County Paramedics, and Thompson Valley EMS. Found some facts on these companies in the threads but wondering if anyone has any more info on these companies before I potentially plant roots in New England. I've worked ski patrol (snowboard) and have worked on the wilderness side of EMS.

No disrespect to any firefighters

Thanks for any info

Cheers

 

[Handsome Robb]

You picked the three most difficult services to get into. I've been watching Summit County since I got my card in June of 2012 and haven't heard of an opening.

Another one you might look at is Weld County Paramedics. They're hospital based out of the Banner Hospital in Weld County. I don't know much about that specific service but I interviewed for another one of their hospital's EMS services and liked what I saw.

I'm not sure about CO but here we have a few ALS patrols. Generally are FT at either an FD or for The agency I work for then work PT at the resort. I'm not sure if you can be part time on the Ambo and full time on the slopes though.

 

[Burritomedic1127]

Robb thanks for the reply

Yeah Summit County def looks legit for sure. Prob have to wait till someone retires to even get a sniff. Weld county looks solid from checking out their website, might be far from the mountains though.

Working on the patrol would be an after thought to landing a decent job in a prime location. Just looking for more space, we throw a rock around here and hit a dunkin donuts and a hospital across the street from a Starbucks and a hospital. Heard the snow and fishing isn't bad either.

If you dont mind me asking, what agency do you work for?

Any info on Eagle or Thompson Valley?

 

[chaz90]

Thompson Valley is almost as far from the mountains as Weld County is, meaning not terribly so. ~2 hours to get to awesome skiing. Great place to work though. Good equipment, P/B staffing, 24 hr shifts in stations, primarily 911 with some transfers, good medical director, and decent call volume. High standards to get on there, but it's worth it.

Remember, Weld County was purchased by Banner Health about two years ago. I know absolutely nothing about the way it is now.

 

[Burritomedic1127]

Yeah 2 hours isn't bad, that's standard around here to get to good mountains.

Any idea on the cost of living vs salary for any of these places? Thompson Valley says they start medics at 50,000.

 

[Handsome Robb]

Sent you a PM

 

[Tigger]

As said, those three places have excellent reputations and are tough to get on with. Most of the well regarded operations in Colorado (especially the smaller ones) give heavy preference during a full time hiring process to their part time staff. The service I work for (very small, 15 FT employees) didn't even consider outside applicants for our last opening.

I was able to get that spot by being an extremely dedicated part time employee, which as a young person with little out of work responsibilities, wasn't a big deal. Could be different for you of course. I had a fulltime job with a bigger ambulance company for most of the time I was a part timer so I was working a ton between the two jobs and often struggled with my commitment to being full time one place with a desire to be full time elsewhere. It was worth it in the end though, but I'm not sure it was sustainable. I couldn't have operated like that for much longer I don't think, so maybe I just got lucky.

As for those agencies, I know Summit has had some serious financial issues as they don't receive very much money from the county and have to rely primarily on reimbursement. They have seasonal units for the winter but have to cut them in years past due to a decline in skier visits though I think they reinstated them.

Eagle County recently merged with Western Eagle County to form Eagle County Paramedics. They cover the county, but really aren't that big and also do seasonal units I believe.

I don't know much about Thompson since it's not really an area I have much desire to live in right now, but they have a great reputation and are much bigger than the other two.

Cost of living in Denver is far mroe reasonable (you might even call it cheap) compared to the mountains, Colorado Springs is even cheaper. Boulder is rather pricy but most of the other Denver sub/exurbs are reasonable.

 

[Handsome Robb]

Boulder is rather pricy but most of the other Denver sub/exurbs are reasonable.

Boulder is obnoxiously expensive. We paid 1400/mo for a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath 900 sq ft apartment when I lived there. My house I live in now is 3 bed, 2 bath, formal and informal living room, ~.25 of an acre for about that where I'm at now.

 

[Burritomedic1127]

The 2 job part time full time could work for a bit I'm only 28 not a dinosaur yet, but i can see how that could be tough.

Those rent prices both mentioned are cheaper than cost of living here, 1800/month not including anything for a 550 sq ft "one bedroom". Better off burning money

Thanks for all the feedback