SoCal AMR Medics

Mitchellmvhs

Mitchellmvhs

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Hey everyone was looking to see if anyone could give me some insight on how well medics are actually being paid down in SoCal.

I’ve been an EMT-B for about 5 months now and I’m currently working for a really small division of AMR in Orange County. Our company is all BLS so we don’t have any medics. I’ve been going to school currently towards nursing and I’m about to finish my GE’s and get my associates in liberal arts/ math and science I believe. Once I finish this semester I’d just take my teas and apply to nursing school. But working these few months as an EMT despite me doing primarily IFT with a few 911 calls since my company only contracts for 1 city since CARE covers 90% of Orange County. It has honestly made me fall in love with EMS and I think I would enjoy being a paramedic doing 911 more than I would bring a Nurse in an ER.

Ideally I would love to be both an ER Nurse and also a Medic. But I feel pretty burnt out of school and I don’t know if my GPA will be able to get me into nursing school.

I’ve been looking at Palomar Community College’s paramedic program and been considering doing it once I finish my AA. I’ve been thinking about maybe trying to transfer down to AMR in SD or even Riverside while going to medic school because I really want to run more 911. As cheesy as it sounds I became an EMT to help people and I feel like I would be able to do a lot of good as a medic.

I know there’s the whole debate that AMR is a terrible company and don’t pay well, but I’m curious at how much medics are actually starting at or if anyone has any opinions they could give me. Does anyone know what medics are starting at for AMR or rural metro?

Should I just suck it up and become a nurse now and get a medic card later? I feel like being a medic first and then becoming a Nurse later would already make me a 10x better nurse and I really want to be working in emergency.

sorry kinda a long post. I’m 21 and really been reevaluating what I really want to do with my career
 
Well it's been a while since I was an evil empire employee but IIRC I was making ~ $11/hr. I, along with Desertmedic66 worked for one of the non-union AMR ops in Riverside Co. 12 hour shifts broken up to 8 hours of straight pay 4 hours time and a half and anything over your scheduled 12 was double time.

Everyone that VentMonkey tagged has either worked for AMR or is part-time with AMR. I now work for a So CAL FD, Desertmedic66 is a rotor-head, and jgmedic also works for a So CAL FD. With the current costs of CA it's doable to make a living on AMR wages, but realistically to make a comfortable living you'd need to move on to greener pastures ie a FD or a flight job.
 
I emt I work with went to riverside AMR recently (past week) and says starting at $16/hr

I just got hired part time as a medic at 21.22 with AMR as well
 
Since you asked it: just go straight into nursing. You will get a much better education, much better pay (you can easily clear $100k/yr as a new grad nurse in CA), better working conditions, stronger unions, more respect, and can eventually work on a ground CCT ambulance or flight company if you do desire.
 
Wow: I left Indianapolis in 2008 and was making $18 an hour as a PT medic for a FD then. FT IFT/911 job was $18.5 hour
We just got a pay raise here so my base is $77,500 as a medic. Starting base is $62,000. 48 hours on, 5 days off.
 
Want to be a nurse?, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, do not go to medic school. Get your pre reqs done ASAP. If you want to be a medic in SoCal? IMHO, either go fire or GTFO CA. I'm not saying that just because I am fire, I am saying that because as a whole, FD's offer pay and benefits that far exceed that of any private agency in the area, flight or not(not bagging on our friendly neighborhood rotorheads, love you guys, esp MA8). You're 21 and prob not thinking about retirement, but look around and you'll see public safety pensions are way better than any 401k. I started at AMR Hemet in 08, 13.95/hr. tapped out in 19 at 19.20/hr. I tried staying PT after getting picked up, made it a few years that way, but it wasnt worth it. BTW, that is medic pay, not EMT. AMR SD offered me a job back in 08 to as a medic 10.48/hr. Benefits are AMR are fine if youre a single guy/gal, family plans are ridiculously priced and dont cover a whole hell of a lot. Since Riverside division got their huge raise, I've heard pay at the non-union shops is up too, my probie is PT in Hemet and I think he started in the 17's or 18's. If you want to come to RivCo, id suggest Hemet or Palm Springs. Palomar is a good program, run by a lot of North SDCo FD medics. The departments up there for the most part care about EMS at a level not seen in LA or OC. Ive worked all over SoCal, was an OG Care bear(pre-LACo), went to RCC for medic, Saddleback for EMT, COD for Fire. Joined the Kern Co cult for awhile and done FD medic in LA and SD, private in Riverside and Kern so I have a little experience in this region. So sorry for the long post, but I made a decision to pursue this at 22, so I feel what you're going through. I didnt get picked up full time dual role FD until 34. Man, I love being a paramedic though, more than being a FF for sure, it's a great career. Just understand that in this area, it's a slog, esp if you're not riding big red. Me personally, I hate hospitals and could never do nursing. But that's just me, and nursing is an amazing career that can take you anywhere. PM me if you have specific questions or just want to bounce stuff off someone.
 
jgmedic said:
Want to be a nurse?, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, do not go to medic school. Get your pre reqs done ASAP. If you want to be a medic in SoCal? IMHO, either go fire or GTFO CA. I'm not saying that just because I am fire, I am saying that because as a whole, FD's offer pay and benefits that far exceed that of any private agency in the area, flight or not(not bagging on our friendly neighborhood rotorheads, love you guys, esp MA8). You're 21 and prob not thinking about retirement, but look around and you'll see public safety pensions are way better than any 401k. I started at AMR Hemet in 08, 13.95/hr. tapped out in 19 at 19.20/hr. I tried staying PT after getting picked up, made it a few years that way, but it wasnt worth it. BTW, that is medic pay, not EMT. AMR SD offered me a job back in 08 to as a medic 10.48/hr. Benefits are AMR are fine if youre a single guy/gal, family plans are ridiculously priced and dont cover a whole hell of a lot. Since Riverside division got their huge raise, I've heard pay at the non-union shops is up too, my probie is PT in Hemet and I think he started in the 17's or 18's. If you want to come to RivCo, id suggest Hemet or Palm Springs. Palomar is a good program, run by a lot of North SDCo FD medics. The departments up there for the most part care about EMS at a level not seen in LA or OC. Ive worked all over SoCal, was an OG Care bear(pre-LACo), went to RCC for medic, Saddleback for EMT, COD for Fire. Joined the Kern Co cult for awhile and done FD medic in LA and SD, private in Riverside and Kern so I have a little experience in this region. So sorry for the long post, but I made a decision to pursue this at 22, so I feel what you're going through. I didnt get picked up full time dual role FD until 34. Man, I love being a paramedic though, more than being a FF for sure, it's a great career. Just understand that in this area, it's a slog, esp if you're not riding big red. Me personally, I hate hospitals and could never do nursing. But that's just me, and nursing is an amazing career that can take you anywhere. PM me if you have specific questions or just want to bounce stuff off someone.
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With our recent settlement, we are actually making pretty decent money. Much more than AMR but not quite at the level of some city based fire departments. But our benefits will never compare.
 
DesertMedic66 said:
With our recent settlement, we are actually making pretty decent money. Much more than AMR but not quite at the level of some city based fire departments. But our benefits will never compare.
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Cant beat lifetime medical.
 
CALEMT said:
Cant beat lifetime medical.
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Nope. One of our nurses played it out very well. Retired from CalFire as a Captain so he has a full pension and benefits for life and now works full time for us to still make some good money and also gives him something to do.
 
Get your RN.
The morale, and treatment at AMR isn’t a debate if it’s all one sided.
 
DesertMedic66 said:
Nope. One of our nurses played it out very well. Retired from CalFire as a Captain so he has a full pension and benefits for life and now works full time for us to still make some good money and also gives him something to do.
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Work 30 years for the bear, retire as a top step Captain with the best PERS formal (3% at 50) just to work in retirement. Yeah no thank you.
 
CALEMT said:
Work 30 years for the bear, retire as a top step Captain with the best PERS formal (3% at 50) just to work in retirement. Yeah no thank you.
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Well I mean working XOXOOOOO while getting on average less than one call a shift is pretty close to retirement haha
 
DesertMedic66 said:
Well I mean working XOXOOOOO while getting on average less than one call a shift is pretty close to retirement haha
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More power to him, but when I'm retired I'm retired. My schedule will look like this: OOOOOOO off 7 days a week.
 
CALEMT said:
More power to him, but when I'm retired I'm retired. My schedule will look like this: OOOOOOO off 7 days a week.
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That sound you hear in the background is your wife laughing. 🤪
 
CALEMT said:
More power to him, but when I'm retired I'm retired. My schedule will look like this: OOOOOOO off 7 days a week.
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That will last about six months at the most...
 
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