Working in Canada

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Howzit guys, if any Canadian paramedic that konws the system well could give me some advice please.

I live in South Africa and want to work abroad for a while. Could any one give info on training if your a international student and the salary to living needs & costs ( course costs).

Thanks
 
Medic said:
Howzit guys, if any Canadian paramedic that konws the system well could give me some advice please.

I live in South Africa and want to work abroad for a while. Could any one give info on training if your a international student and the salary to living needs & costs ( course costs).

Thanks
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Welcome. The answer to your question will vary greatly by province. Did you have a specific part of our very large country in mind? In Ontario you will need to spend two years in college to be able to work on an ambulance. Unfortunately these jobs are not very plentiful at this time. What does your current education consist of?

There are a number of members from Alberta where I think the job market may be a bit better. Hopefully they can provide you with some information about working in their province.
 
Well in SA we have two ways to get into EMS. Univarsity course N.dip in emergency care & further year of study (honours) you will graduate with a B.tech in emergancy care and will practise as a (ALS Paramedic). the other way is short courses BAA(Basic ambulance assistant) is equivelant to EMT-B and then AEA(Ambulance emergency assistant) EMT-I. These two work on the ambo. ALS paramedic (Advanced life support) are in RV's and respond to P1 (code red).
 
BEorP said:
There are a number of members from Alberta where I think the job market may be a bit better. Hopefully they can provide you with some information about working in their province.
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I don't know whether it'd be possible for you to transfer any of your education from South Africa to here. If you have to start from scratch, you will need to get a Standard First Aid/CPR Healthcare provider certificate, which is about $100-150. Then you will have to take an EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) course, which costs about $1000 and has varying schedules. A full-time class, like the one I took, is 2 weeks of 9-5 with lots of homework and pre-reading. Part-time classes range from 1.5 to 3 months, and they usually run over several evenings a week and/or Sat/Sun.

It's possible to get an EMR job in the oil sands, but this is season-dependent (they can't drill until the ground's frozen, so some of my former classmates were still bumming around in Calgary in early November because it wasn't cold enough yet). There is a very small number of rural services that will take EMRs - I work for one. The call volume is minimal, which is a bit of a downside unless you're like me and taking your EMT course at the same time, so you can use the downtime to study. I make a bit under $200 a day without overtime. In the oilfields, you can expect to make $250 or so.


EMT (AB equivalent of PCP in other provinces) school ranges from about 4 months (accelerated program, like the one I'm in) to about 10 months. There is some variation to this, because it includes practicum, and depending on call volume/type, you could take anywhere from 2 weeks to even 3 months to finish it. You can expect to pay somewhere around $5000 for an EMT course, on average. Employment rate is 95% or higher. In the oilfields, you can expect to make about $350 a day. On a municipal service, $250 without overtime is a likely figure.

Paramedic school is AFTER your EMT and takes 2 years, so I won't go into detail about that now, since we'd really be jumping ahead. Paramedic is ALS, EMR and EMT are BLS. As an EMR, you can't do an awful lot, basically first aid with C-spine and a few fun splints (like the Sager), OPA/NPA, aspirin, oral glucose, oxygen, CPR, and, if the patient has them on him/herself, ipratropium bromide, salbutamol, and epi-pen. As an EMT, you get all that, plus LMA and Combitube for the airway, peripheral IVs (including external jugular), the ability to give the above mentioned drugs from your own supply (and using an injection or a nebulizer, whichever's appropriate), plus D50W, glucagon, nitrous oxide, and nitroglycerin. That's in Alberta, scopes of practice vary in other provinces.



In order to work as either EMR or EMT, you need to pass the Alberta College of Paramedics (ACP) licensing exam and then register as a practitioner. The cost for the EMR exam is $575 and the cost for registration for a year is $375. For EMT, I think it's about $750 for the exam and maybe $500 for registration. You can find out more at www.collegeofparamedics.org

If you have any more questions, post here and I'll check back. There are some other folks from Canada (and AB ) on this board, as well, as mentioned above.
 
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So my first aid level 3 wont count towards any thing then?

What are the shift roataions like, and how many hours a month on average would you work as an emr?

Thanks alot man, will cost a bit to get started and thats excluding living costs ay.
 
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Medic said:
So my first aid level 3 wont count towards any thing then?

What are the shift roataions like, and how many hours a month on average would you work as an emr?

Thanks alot man, will cost a bit to get started and thats excluding living costs ay.
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Probably not, a classmate of mine has OFA III from BC (with work experience) and she had to take her EMR before going onto EMT here in Alberta. I don't know if your First Aid 3 would be of any use in BC, you'd have to contact their provincial licensing body.

Shifts are different everywhere. My service is 4 on, 4 off, with 24-hour days. Some are 6 on, 6 off. Oilfield usually runs by weeks - 2 weeks on, 2 off, or 3 on, 1 off are common schedules.
 
I have just moved to Alberta because that seems to be where the work is, I live in Northern Alberta and it is a mighty cold place, but there is a lot of work up here on the oil fields.

if you are interested in working in Albert you will need to get an equivalency for your train and then write a test for registration with the Alberta College of Paramedic... to research it I suggest going to their website www.collegeofparamedics.org
 
with working on oil field/rig, do they supply accomodation?
 
certain rigs are far enough that they have camps and you often work 12hour days for 3 weeks and then have a week off where you would have to find your own accommodations. on the oil fields salary can range between 225-275 for an EMR which is the equivalent of an EMT-B plus often an extra $50 a day for being in camp....don't quote me on those figures though
 
ok thanks, and you do get your package of med aid, etc
 
How do you mean med aid? Medical insurance? If so all the companies I know of offer medical bennefits above and beyond our Provincial medical insurance but I have no idea how it would work if you are not a citizen.
 
Yes, medical aid. Ok I see where you going.

Just a random question, the cost of living in canada compared to emr pay, what is it like,do you live comfortably?
 
depending where you are it can be more costly but in comparison to most places I think you will find the lifestyle quite comfortable.
 
Thanks man, do you have service providers web page addresses?
 
Sorry but i couldn find any thing. could you make a list please.
 
Okay will do but it will be later in the day, I am just working on some things right now that have to get done.
 
Here on the eastcoast you should be able to live comfortably on a medics wage. Locally we have 5 S.A. Drs who work at our hospital. I suggest you check with the Canadian embassy to see about immigration requirements.
 
Thanks alot for the help.
 
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