South Carolina ems

[Jessica osborne]

i have a few questions about the EMS systems in SC. I am currently living in Jacksonville Florida but I plan to move to SC in February once paramedic school is over. I haven't decided which part of Sc I want to move to yet due to not knowing about the counties. If anyone has any knowledge about anything that they could share that would be great. Im looking for information like which counties have separate ems systems (ems separate from fire), what the base pay rate in the counties are, which counties to stay away from and which ones are great, and just any info you can give.
I currently work in the private area full time and in a hospital ER part time.
thank you.

 

[Scmedic08]

Generally in SC, most services are county based separate from fire with the exception of some coastal services. Big names in the state are Richland EMS, Lexington, Florence, Greenville, Horry County (fire based) and Charleston. Those are all mostly busy urban services. All are respected pretty well and have decent salaries. Generally speaking the going rate for a paramedic in SC is $40-$45k +-. Low cost of living in most areas help out. I personally enjoy working for a more suburban/rural county like I'm in (which is not far from Columbia). Population around 70k and annual call volume of around 10-12k calls. Good mix of calls and quite a bit of high acuity patients. longer transport times which make you stay on top of training. As it's no secret, SC isn't the leading edge of pre hospital care. Some services are aggressive and a lot are behind times and lacking, so to speak. But good smaller services in my area would be Kershaw (as they recently separated from the hospital and became united with the county. New trucks and management). Saluda county, Lee county (they have every drug in the formulary with great protocols. They lack call volume for me though). Sumter county is a busy service with a lot ...a lot of high acuity patients due to their rough areas, but pay on the low end of the spectrum from what I hear. I'm sorry if this doesn't help. Would be easier to pin point if you knew an exact location your moving, and someone else here may know more about other areas.

 

[amg1322]

i have a few questions about the EMS systems in SC. I am currently living in Jacksonville Florida but I plan to move to SC in February once paramedic school is over. I haven't decided which part of Sc I want to move to yet due to not knowing about the counties. If anyone has any knowledge about anything that they could share that would be great. Im looking for information like which counties have separate ems systems (ems separate from fire), what the base pay rate in the counties are, which counties to stay away from and which ones are great, and just any info you can give.
I currently work in the private area full time and in a hospital ER part time.
thank you.

I'm from south Florida and am also considering South Carolina, or maybe even north carolina but am definitely a bit lost also. I currently only have my emt licensure and am wondering what next step would be a best fit for these states.

 

[Scmedic08]

I'm from south Florida and am also considering South Carolina, or maybe even north carolina but am definitely a bit lost also. I currently only have my emt licensure and am wondering what next step would be a best fit for these states.

I'm not sure how other states credential EMT level, but national registry is required. Look online at scdhec.gov and go to the EMS page for information.

 

[amg1322]

I'm not sure how other states credential EMT level, but national registry is required. Look online at scdhec.gov and go to the EMS page for information.

Thanks! I went on the site to check it out and it was really helpful. I actually went ahead and also sent over an email to a contact I found on the site to get some more specific insight as to how to proceed with my situation so hopefully I hear back from them. If I do, will definitely share their suggestions here..