Walmart Raises Minimum Wage to $10 - Why Not EMS?

I'll run 10 unsuccessful ones... If I can get one successful one. That's why I'm here. Obviously, I'd like to save them all, but I also know the reality.

It isn't about how many you lose, it's about how many lives you touch.


There's no honor in getting rich off of the backs of others, and perpetuating the downward spiral of our civilization instead of being a person who gains success for themselves by bettering their own society.
 
Let's face it, being a paramedic simply doesn't have a lot of value to most people.
 
SandpitMedic said:
I'll run 10 unsuccessful ones... If I can get one successful one. That's why I'm here. Obviously, I'd like to save them all, but I also know the reality.

It isn't about how many you lose, it's about how many lives you touch.


There's no honor in getting rich off of the backs of others, and perpetuating the downward spiral of our civilization instead of being a person who gains success for themselves by bettering their own society.
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Nope, it's about how many people you can help in a meaningful way and reimbursement for same (preferably in advance as a sort of prepayment scheme). Yes, it sucks that your grandmother isn't breathing, but quite frankly, if you and Gram-Grams weren't smart enough to pay for my services when I needed to make rent and pay bills (ie voting down taxes, etc) then that's your failure and I am under no inclination or obligation to help. Kid falls over dead at the high school and needs high-speed CPR, but Kiddo's parents refused to pay the extra taxes or whatever for EMS service and CPR/Defibrillator placement? Sucks to be Kiddo, maybe his family will learn. Johnny and Susie get in a car wreck and need advanced airways in a timely manner but all that comes out is BLS volunteers because the community opted not to pay? Not. My. Problem. I'll respond on a mutual-aid for PR reasons, but it's nothing I'll roll out of bed for if it's not going to benefit me. If I choose to volunteer, it's because I will benefit in some way from it, not out of any sense of duty.


What very much is my problem is the altruistic, self-depreciating, and value-blind "ethic" of EMS that demands we work, sacrifice and rate ourselves based on the worst calls ever.

To me, that moment when a paramedic can show up, make the pain stop (thanks to a wise and generous contribution on taxes, contract, stipend, etc), and transport you safely and efficiently to an appropriate facility for further care, the moments when we can resolve a critical situation and the moments we can divert people to less-expensive and more appropriate treatments are far, far more satisfying and profitable.
 
Here's some real talk for you:

AMR here in San Antonio offered me 10.34 an hour for a 911 shift on a 24/48 in South Texas. That comes to about $34,700 annually, assuming you don't work extra. It's a pretty decently-busy 911/IFT system, and plugs into a busy all-IFT system here in San Antonio. And you know what? I'd have taken it anyways over Acadian's IFT/911 system in San Antonio/Bexar County, because Acadian's 16.61 an hour for paramedics only yields an effective pay rate of $35,600 on the current schedule. Either way, I'd be working between 25 and 33% of my life for wages that barely support my relatively minimalist lifestyle. So you know what I did? I fired up the Internet and kept looking. And I found a unicorn- a municipal, single-role ALS paramedic service that pays more than $14,000 a year more than AMR for less times worked and has better everything. I found a lot better than Acadian too- and more importantly, I was able to get hired. I turned in my two-week's notice and will be starting soon with my new employer, and I'm doing it with a song in my heart and a smile on my face. But let's look at the effects.

I was one of 70 or so medics at EMSA-OKC, of whom about 40 were working at any one time. My leaving forced AMR to recruit and pay for a replacement (expected and normal), but also increased costs of business and response times for a few weeks until I was replaced. Here at Acadian, I'm one of ninety or so paramedics, and my departure will adversely affect both 911 response times and care rendered (since there's not a lot of paramedics to go around) and existing interfacility contracts (because they need to staff the ambulance somehow). For AMR, not being able to bring me aboard for their operation is worse- they run a smaller crew and place more demands on their people, and not being able to place me on a truck means that they're either going to have to recruit more aggressively and at greater cost or that they're going to have to keep someone out there longer to cover, which raises issues of fatigue, burnout and still risks running out of resources due to inadequate staffing. In all cases, we can see a direct correlation between staffing and pay- if the pay isn't enough, I'm not staying.

A lot of services rely on the fresh flow of experience-hungry, eager, adrenaline-seeking new and usually young medics and extremely-humble ambitionless people to staff their trucks. That's their way and I won't bash it, but they get what they pay for. I'm 26 and I care more about personal prosperity for myself and being able to start a family than I do about Envision Healthcare's profit margins, Richard Zuschlag's private jet or even the citizens of Bexar County who care more about the grass at their parks than the ambulances that come when they call for help. If they were willing to offer better pay, I would stay- but I'm not going to live a monastic life to help people who don't care about me and demonstrate that daily with their pocketbooks.
 
@RocketMedic dude you live in Texas, there are plenty of departments that pay pretty dang good money. I know more than half of them probably are not up to your "standards" that you have mentioned in the past. Go find it.
 
Chewy20 said:
@RocketMedic dude you live in Texas, there are plenty of departments that pay pretty dang good money. I know more than half of them probably are not up to your "standards" that you have mentioned in the past. Go find it.
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If you read his last post, he did just that.
 
Heck that's why I have been looking at our highway patrol. Starting pay fresh out of the academy is 74k a year with amazing benefits. Plus after 1-2 years on the road I would be able to apply for their flight medic position.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
Heck that's why I have been looking at our highway patrol. Starting pay fresh out of the academy is 74k a year with amazing benefits. Plus after 1-2 years on the road I would be able to apply for their flight medic position.
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Border patrol wouldn't be a bad gig either. Their BORSTAR team is pretty bad ***
 
Grimes said:
Here in Austin where a secured airway is a secured airway, Basics can and often are in the airway position in pit crew, including dropping an IGel (used to be King). The only difference in a BLS and ALS code is the use of the LP and ACLS, which is 2 paramedics (one on the meds, one on the monitor as Code Commander).
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I am the only medic unless one just so happens to be on the fire truck. Which is not common. i take firefighters ( whom are all emt) with me as needed and have an EMT partner if that changes your perspective.
 
SandpitMedic said:
Hey Chimpie lets just go ahead and change the name of the site to ParamedicLife.com.

Seeing how worthless EMTs are around here nowadays.

People seem to forget their roots, and that although we have low levels on the totem pole EMR, EMT, EMT-A.... We are all part of a team.

And each specialized member of that team provides an invaluable asset towards our goal... Which is patient care.

Let's stop the bashing on our own profession. 95% of our calls are BLS...

Just because we think the bread and butter of our job is simple AND DESERVES A RAISE does not give credence to the notion that any schmuck with a CPR card can come in and contribute to the team as a trained and certified EMT does.

We all agree we need higher education standards, but to say they're bag boys?! Get over yourself. With that mindset screw paramedics- lets just BLS everything and then diesel bolus the remaining 5% to the ER... So the real medical professionals can do their work.

Shape up.
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There's no possible way "95%" of my calls are BLS. Where are you getting your "facts"? Maybe in IFT 95% are BLS. Not what I have seen, though.
 
COmedic17 said:
There's no possible way "95%" of my calls are BLS. Where are you getting your "facts"? Maybe in IFT 95% are BLS. Not what I have seen, though.
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I think they ment largely as a whole. Theres alot of bs calls. But I too wouldn't say 95% and as always every call usually starts with bls.
 
gonefishing said:
I think they ment largely as a whole. Theres alot of bs calls. But I too wouldn't say 95% and as always every call usually starts with bls.
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I get equal ALS then BLS.
If anything probably a little more ALS.

So saying 95% is BLS is not only a far stretch, but pretty ridiculous. I have a hard time respecting people's opinions when they create things up and try to pass them off as truth.



"I fight Dragons".
From now on, I expect to be referred to as 'The Dragon Slayer'. Thank you for your cooperation.
 
COmedic17 said:
I get equal ALS then BLS.
If anything probably a little more ALS.

So saying 95% is BLS is not only a far stretch, but pretty ridiculous. I have a hard time respecting people's opinions when they create things up and try to pass them off as truth.



"I fight Dragons".
From now on, I expect to be referred to as 'The Dragon Slayer'. Thank you for your cooperation.
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That was a good video game! lol
Wait..... I was thinking Dragons Lair.
 
gonefishing said:
That was a good video game! lol
Wait..... I was thinking Dragons Lair.
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I'm just talking about Dragons in general.


......I'm the reason they are extinct, you know.
 
.... I meant largely as a whole.
Not precisely 95%; it's probably closer to (GUESSTIMATING) 75- 80% BLS or what should be BLS. Of those, maybe only 25% would benefit from an ambulance, totes-magoats.

I'm not quite sure if there are adequate stats on the numbers of ALS vs BLS, considering the amount of over-treatment that goes on.

I can assure you that because you think that anxiety attack/ETOH/4 day tummy ache/flu/etc needs to be placed on an EKG, does not make it a true ALS call.
 
Mthom said:
There's plenty of people that want to be EMTs (and are willing to work for free), and people aren't necessarily lining up to work at Walmart, let alone volunteer. A job is a job, but still...

Yeah, so the way I see it, WalMart is having trouble keeping its workers, so they need to raise their wages to keep them. For customers, there may be a rise in prices. If you thought razor blades were expensive before...

As it relates to EMS, a rise in wages equals more expensive care for pts, and how many people are paying for the service?

Seriously, how many? I'm still in school here (have my test coming up soon, though).

Not in the field yet, and while I believe EMS professionals should be paid according to the stress/dangers/lost time with family related to the job, as said before, it's all about market conditions.
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A rise in wages equals more expensive care for pts, not true! If that were the case why is every dead beat with a stubbed toe asking for a ride to the hospital. You know right well that if people had to pay for a ride to the hospital we would stop getting all the BS calls. Most places have the two notification rule. We send you a bill twice and if you don't pay, you don't pay.
 
It IS basic first aid. Please don't kid yourself. I do believe we teach EMTs a lot of the wrong stuff. Rather than focusing on how to BVM a CHF patient (WTF?) we should be teaching defensive driving, customer service strategy and how to move and position bed bound patients. How to clean up the patients that have a BM in transit. How to interface with SNF nurses and dialysis techs. All the really important stuff that EMTs are NEVER taught.[/QUOTE]

You are WAY to full of yourself. Last time I checked basic first aid was taught in boy scouts and I did not see them being taught to administer medication or check people for trouble breathing or how to do a trauma assessement. Being an EMT IS not basic first aid.

I did spend half a year getting EMT certification!
Emergency Medical Technician:
Start Date: 03-15-2015
End Date: 08-02-2015
Location: MFRI Northeast Regional Training Center

http://www.mfri.org/cgi-bin/schedule.cgi?S=MDFS&R=3
 
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DesertEMT66 said:
Heck that's why I have been looking at our highway patrol. Starting pay fresh out of the academy is 74k a year with amazing benefits. Plus after 1-2 years on the road I would be able to apply for their flight medic position.
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I saw that and plan on putting in an app. im definitely surprised it pays that good, and retirement is great as well.
 
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