I been reading somes news articles on the transition, and it appears that both sides are in court over the bid where Paramedics Plus underbid AMR. Any opinons on the transition, either from political or operational standpoints? Also are there any employees that just made the switch that can comment how it went and if Paramedics Plus in Alameda County is a good company to work for?
AMR to Paramedics Plus in Alameda County
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DV_EMT
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Well... isn't AMR suing over the operational costs being so low for PP? If so, I'm thinking that AMR is just a little upset that someone got their 911 contracts. I run a small BLS non-profit agency and I know that the operational costs to net profit on a BLS call would be plenty of cash for just raw materials and gas. But i'm not sure if there are other factors playing into the case.
VCEMT
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Of course, they are not happy. That's the second or third contract they have lost, in a year. The highly paid and low moraled Santa Clara lost their contract and those chuds lost their jobs.
Interesting. I didn't know that the medics in Santa Clara County lost their jobs. I'm assuming they were making too much, or just weren't good emmployees so Rural Metro just brought in a whole new crew. I guess its good that Paramedics Plus did rehire all the AMR employees. I wonder what AMR is going to do with all their unused ambulances now....
VCEMT
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Rural Metro hired the Santa Clara crews.
emtpche
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Rural Metro took on the union contract that AMR had for the folks in Santa Clara. They took all the medics that wanted to come over. Initially issues with how many EMT's were to come over. Yes Santa Clara field has had some issues with low moral. Previous General manager stated that moral was not a company issue.
Have not heard positive things for the folks in Alameda County with PPlus coming in. PP has been up front that they are going a new route and that past practice and behaviors will not be tolerated. Fired an EMT as she was late to EVOC class by 5 minutes stating that if she couldn't be on time to class how could they rely on her to be on time for work.
Have not heard positive things for the folks in Alameda County with PPlus coming in. PP has been up front that they are going a new route and that past practice and behaviors will not be tolerated. Fired an EMT as she was late to EVOC class by 5 minutes stating that if she couldn't be on time to class how could they rely on her to be on time for work.
Its not unusual for someone to get fired during training for being late because they are technically still on probation. It would be worse if that EMT had just came over from AMR though. I wonder if they have to go through another probation period or field training again....
EMTPCHE, You brought up a good point about unions. Are EMTs and paramedics in the south bay unionized? I have never given it too much thought before always thinking EMS, at least with private amublance companies, are at will.
EMTPCHE, You brought up a good point about unions. Are EMTs and paramedics in the south bay unionized? I have never given it too much thought before always thinking EMS, at least with private amublance companies, are at will.
DesertMedic66
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They are pretty much shipping their ambulances to other AMR divisions. We just got a couple down here in Palm Springs from up there to replace our ALS units that got bumped down to BLS units due to milage (ALS is 275,000 miles and below. BLS is 275,000 and up).
Edit: I spent 2 days helping the VST get the ambulances from up there ready and stocked to get accredited to be ALS units down here.
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I talked with some of them. Some say nothing is really different, others hate it. I heard that story about the person being late, but was told it was a medic. Rumors maybe? Looked like Summit Pavilion was happy to see them. They had a bunch of signs up saying "Welcome Paramedic Plus" on the wall and ground entrance to the ER. I think the people out here just don't like change.
RocketMedic
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Im totally ok with paramedics plus. My dad likes them in emsa okc
Paramedics Plus has a good Rep, Good equipment and typically practices good Medicene. They tend to focus on more than just the Dollar. AMR and Metro have dominated CA for so long it is nice to see another big company come in and change thigns up. As far the Medic who got fired, don't show up late for training while on probation and you wont get fired!
Well said.
emtpche
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TacEMT all of the ALS providers in the Bay Area are unionized. Both PPlus and Rural have agreed to the current contracts. It was a political move more than anything else, no way they would have gotten the ALS contract without agreeing to the union contract. As for the EMT/Medic that was late and got fired, agree that they should have known better.
I am glad to see that we have competition in the Bay Area as it was mainly AMR for the last 10 years. I am hearing that AMR is still keeping its Alameda Ops center with units for bit longer pending on how PPlus handles the change over or the court fight turns out positive for them.
I am glad to see that we have competition in the Bay Area as it was mainly AMR for the last 10 years. I am hearing that AMR is still keeping its Alameda Ops center with units for bit longer pending on how PPlus handles the change over or the court fight turns out positive for them.
Having them in down will start to promote better pay and benefits from other companies.
All the 911 ambulance companies in the south bay are union. The only other union company that is not 911 is AMR.
Hm, just heard that they are using a priority dispatch system now so instead of sending ALS 100% of the time, they'll send an ambulance with EMTs on it to low priority calls. From what it has been described to me by some guys who work in ALCO fire, they say "there are some growing pains". Fire is a little upset they don't send the ambulance CODE 3 100% of the time, and they'll send a crew of EMTs CODE 2 to some calls while Fire is still sent CODE 3 to 100% of the calls as it was described to me.
I also hear that it is like an assembly line there where the crew gets off the rig, somebody makes sure to stock up the rig, and then the next crew goes on without checking the rig. On the side of the ambulance there is a container that they can give Fire stuff (e.g. nasal cannulas if Fire used it).
I hear they don't have O2 on their gurneys, which the guy I was talking with didn't sound too happy about. I actually haven't looked at their gurney, and I keep forgetting to take a glance, lol, so I can't confirm this.
I was told that Fire got to train on all of their equipment, but the EMTs/Paramedics from AMR got less training on it so sometimes Fire has to help them use it/figure it out.
That's what I was told by one medic/firefighter from ALCO Fire. He didn't sound like he liked him, but he described it as only "growing pain" and said he thinks Paramedic Plus will change for better once they learn "how things are down in ALCO" and "they don't realize how busy it is here". I cannot confirm any of this (except the gurney one, but haven't looked yet, and see if an ambulance is staffed with two EMTs, which I haven't seen yet).
I also hear that it is like an assembly line there where the crew gets off the rig, somebody makes sure to stock up the rig, and then the next crew goes on without checking the rig. On the side of the ambulance there is a container that they can give Fire stuff (e.g. nasal cannulas if Fire used it).
I hear they don't have O2 on their gurneys, which the guy I was talking with didn't sound too happy about. I actually haven't looked at their gurney, and I keep forgetting to take a glance, lol, so I can't confirm this.
I was told that Fire got to train on all of their equipment, but the EMTs/Paramedics from AMR got less training on it so sometimes Fire has to help them use it/figure it out.
That's what I was told by one medic/firefighter from ALCO Fire. He didn't sound like he liked him, but he described it as only "growing pain" and said he thinks Paramedic Plus will change for better once they learn "how things are down in ALCO" and "they don't realize how busy it is here". I cannot confirm any of this (except the gurney one, but haven't looked yet, and see if an ambulance is staffed with two EMTs, which I haven't seen yet).
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1. Sounds like our setup. It works just fine as long as the people doing the stocking are held accountable. All our containers are shrinkwrapped so if the wrap is broken the VSTs know they need to count the contents and replace what we used.
2. Neither do we. We have an airway bag with an ALS airway kit, BLS airway supplies, ILS/ALS treatments a cylinder and a neb. If we need the cylinder we just pull it out of the bag.
Sounds like the system is pretty similar to the one I work in minus BLS units, everything is ALS here. We use priority dispatching and respond no lights/sirens to triaged 911 calls pretty regularly.
Sounds like they are running a high volume 911 system with a few bugs to work out. I wouldn't mind working there except for the fact that they are in CA.
