Thoughts on Acadian Ambulance

[maineiacmedic]

I met a guy who talked up acadian ambulance in the bayou region of Louisiana pretty well. I'm a brand new medic who wants to move down south and get some solid experience, I've been applying for municipal third services like NOEMS and ATCEMS but haven't heard back from many of the places I've applied because I'm so new. This acadian medic made it seem like a pretty good service to start out at and get experience but I'm not sure about going private. They pay pretty good and are offering 15k sign on bonuses and relocation assistance for a 1 year contract but I'm leery of companies that offer sign on bonuses. Just seeing if any of you out there have insight into the company, if its a decent place to work for, and if its really worth moving out of state for.

 

[akflightmedic]

I have written on this before, many years ago. My experience with Acadian was in 2005 post-Hurricane Katrina and Rita. From my experience, and from what I now of them THEN, I am a fan. If anything has changed or gone belly up in the past 15 years, I am not aware.

I responded after Katrina for a FEMA contractor, did my time and then Rita started advancing on us. I then jumped ship and moved over to Acadian as a contractor because so many of their staff were displaced or devastated and they had another storm bearing down.

They paid me very well, I lived in the station and I basically worked 36 on, 12 off, repeat for well over a month and a half. I had a LOT of time to interact with the staff an hear both sides of how they felt about their company. I seriously considered staying on as a full timer, ultimately decided no simply due to my family situation at the time.

Pros: They are employee owned. You get in there, grow, and contribute financially,you can build yourself a nice retirement. Their equipment, supplies, training...were all current, updated. They seemed to care from exec to mgmt to supervisor on down. Cost of living in LA is very low compared to my other past experiences. Opportunities...so many. You can grow through typical EMS, you can go offshore, you can go flight, you can go dispatch. I LOVED their dispatch...keep in mind this was 2005 and their dispatch was staffed by PARAMEDICS.Dispatch is a great career, rehab from injury, or transition when too old for ops but still want to work and Acadian properly used them in my opinion. I like having Medic call takers and even better...we did NOT do any paper reporting, in fact we did NOT write an reports. We called a Paramedic dispatcher who we dictated our run to. They ensured we made no errors or missed anything. It was quick and painless. And it was great for them from a billing perspective. Later on, the report would be sent to us, we review it, sign it and done! Anyways, they always seem to be growing and expanding which means there are tons of lateral or upward movements.

Cons: Not a fan of the uniforms, however they are a throwback to the history of the company. System Status of many units/stations. Only flight had ability for some of the interventions needed, which from a patient care perspective bothered me. Example, I was in remote area, long tx time and had a CHF patient I could not get nasally intubated and he was going to crump definitely before I got him to a hospital. (this was pre-CPAP in field). I had to call the flight team to come and intubate the guy. And of course from an employee perspective, the speed/driving trackers on every unit are not favored, from a mgmt perspective they are great for insurance reasons. Basically they know where you are at all times, how fast, how hard you brake, how fast you accelerate and you do get written up for these things. But if you dont drive like a douche, they are great because they reduce risk/accidents, and also save money wear and tear on vehicles...cause remember, employee owned. You save the company money, in theory they buy you nice things, pay you well, or provide for you in some way.

 

[JDub]

I actually work for NOEMS and have never worked for Acadian. However, I can tell you what I know.

Pros:
The bayou region for Acadian is a major feeder for medics into NOEMS if that is your end goal.
It is also generally considered one of the best regions to work in for Acadian as you are the primary 911 provider and see a decent level of critical calls.
The region can also have some extended transport times which allows you practice more medicine than an inner-city service where transport times are generally <10 minutes.
If you do well at Acadian they have plenty of other opportunities to advance into such as Flight, Offshore, Dispatch or Education positions. My understanding is that both the flight and offshore wings of Acadian allow their employees to pick overtime on the ambulance or to work on the ambulance if they don't have an active offshore contract for them.

Mehs:
I believe they are currently using HealthEMS as their ePCR which is a really "meh" program.
Their protocols are alright, but nothing to write home about.
I believe the bayou region runs a mixture of 12 hour and 24 hour trucks. So you might not get your first choice if you have strong opinions about what kind of shift you want to work.

Cons:
The uniforms suck.
Even working in a primarily 911 system you will get stuck doing a lot of transfers. Also since Acadian covers almost all of Louisiana you can stuck doing a 911 call or transfer in the middle of nowhere. For example, you take an LDT to Shreveport and on your way back you happen to be the closest to a 911 then you are going to get it. Even if you have never been in that town before and have no idea where any of the local hospitals are at.
I have heard that they are very write-up happy and the regional manager can really make your life hell if they want to.
Like most major private services they will hire just about anyone with a patch. So you might get stuck working with a very green or very stupid partner.
The bayou region isn't particularly exciting and you will have to drive an hour to New Orleans for nightlife/concerts/events/etc.