First of all! I have worked and lived in both Sacramento, and Rancho Cucamonga/Redlands ( the I.E.)
I can assure you the cost of living is higher... Rent is higher, property value is higher, costs of utilities and services are higher. Do Craigslist search on apartments (equivalent in neighborhood/amenities) in both areas if you doubt it.
AMR EMT Basic STARTING Sacramento= $16.80
AMR EMT Basic STARTING Rancho/Redlands = $9.57
Both divisions= 12/24 hour shifts, Overtime after 8 in a day or 40 in a week.
Do the math.....
And another thing:
You're all thinking along the wrong lines.
"Scabs should be ashamed"...."why would I turn down OT"... Etc.
Listen... Fire and PD get paid the way they do for two reasons.
1. Being they are government employees.
2. Fire, at least, has the best PR in the world... We save cats, we drive big red trucks, we save lives everyday, you need us, here's a sticker and a plastic fire hat, stay in school, stay off drugs, hop on my ladder truck at the fair, here's a smoke detector, look at my Dalmatian, watch your kids around water, we have tv shows about us, we have bright yellow reflective pants, we're in comics and coloring books, etc. etc. etc. I can go all day. These guys are household heroes. Held in high esteem, and high profile.
We're not... We have the worst PR as an industry. 99% of folks not associated with healthcare have no idea that ambulance companies are even private, let alone have to take people out of hospitals to other hospitals, or back to their SNF. Only we know how garbage out wages are. We're also all a dime a dozen... If the general public was aware how little we made they'd be ashamed, they'd be worried... "You make $11.25 an hour and you're gonna stick me with that big needle?? Did you get trained for that!?!?" Etc etc. okay maybe a piss poor analogy, but you get the idea: you're responsible for all this, but make less than a guy responsible for cutting potatoes, and you work for a multi billion dollar company in a super-multi-billion dollar a year industry?? Wtf?
We've been conditioned to think this is normal, and that it is bad taste or unethical to mention it in public, or sit down and have a public discussion, or to demand better amenities and benefits. I drive an ambulance and treat patients--- and I don't have health insurance? Seriously? Top it off with you can become an effective EMT with the right attitude and in just a few months time... So "anyone" can do it (I don't personally believe that) so it's okay to be paid pennies. That still doesn't account for the risks, the exposures, placing yourself in harms way on the roadway or in that stranger's apartment, driving through red lights, and doing the actual work of transporting all the patients.
It's a broken system. It's the beat up foster child of the Fire Dept that was created for governments to save more money by contracting out and private business owners to capitalize on an absolutely necessary service. We are stuck in the middle, and it is not changing anytime soon.
Union... Non Union- whatever.... We're all using this as a stepping stone; whether you want to believe that or not is your preference. I highly doubt any of you want to be (no disrespect intended to those who are/have been) that old 25 year EMS vet, hobbling and limping around headquarters with a bad back, a big gut, and shot knees, mumbling to himself about all the bs.... He waited 25 years to get paid what he should have gotten paid 20 years ago. It seems that most of us, as I can't say definitively all of us, want to progress to something else whether it be FD, PD, RN, GOVT, MD, etc. And that is the general impression of the outlook of private EMS. Do what you were taught- do a friggin scene size up... Look around, look for clues, look at the history, look at the symptoms....
Private EMS..... Sick or not sick? You decide for yourself.
My bottom line here is that we're all in the same boat, and this is a dog-eat-dog part of the industry. If they offer me a 24hour salaried, paid trip to CA, to do my regular job... Yes I am in with no qualms. You may think I'm evil, but unfortunately for you I'm a necessary evil.
Ps. I love this work.
