emt in need of advice from all around the U.S

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californiaEMT13

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hey everyone, first off if you reply to this with general knowledge of your area/city it means a lot and thank you... okay so i am a emt-b in california. min wage $10 i run 911... i am in medic school now but do not want to be a medic in california whatsoever. i am not educated on any other state other than CA about ems. does anyone know a state or city that pays ok for either emt or medic that run 911 or work in house with fire? I'm wondering if every state is like california where IF you want to make money you HAVE to be a firefighter as well as a medic/emt. if thats the case i will put everything into fire, if not the case i want to focus on the medical side of fire. I'm 20 years old and have no family in CA so i want to move to where i can work and maybe make more than 10 bucks /hr. i appreciate your feedback very much!!
 
Moved to the EMS Employment section.
 
Plenty of opportunity for non-fire ALS 911 in Massachusetts, new medics start around $17-18/hr. We're an NREMT state now fwiw. The weather here is pretty much opposite of CA though...
 
Texas has tons of third service, standalone departments that pay well. Plus there's no state income tax
 
From where I am in CT, it doesn't seem like EMS is much different than CA. Typically the pay is better as a FD medic, however there are definitely select places that have outstanding pay as a paramedic that aren't FD.

I'm in the southern area of CT, so it may be different elsewhere - feel free to correct me as I haven't been in the field for very long.
 
Gurby said:
Plenty of opportunity for non-fire ALS 911 in Massachusetts, new medics start around $17-18/hr. We're an NREMT state now fwiw. The weather here is pretty much opposite of CA though...
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Not OP but I'm a NREMT-P in the midwest that will be looking in the MA, NH, ME area within the next few years. I've browsed online for jobs (just out of curiosity) but have not really found much for non-fire based 911 ALS. Any ideas on where one would look?
 
To OP:

You asked for examples... I work as a medic in Iowa. Dual medic trucks, county based system. Fire dept are our first responders. Pay is good (union/pension.) This model seems to be common in all the counties that surround me. (Non-fire based, county funded EMS systems.)

When you get toward the bigger cities like Des Moines it then becomes fire based EMS.

Honestly though, you might be a tad bored in IA compared to CA. :)
 
roninwarrior said:
Not OP but I'm a NREMT-P in the midwest that will be looking in the MA, NH, ME area within the next few years. I've browsed online for jobs (just out of curiosity) but have not really found much for non-fire based 911 ALS. Any ideas on where one would look?
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Brewster does a lot of the 911 south of Boston. Cataldo used to handle a lot of the 911 on the north shore, and I think they still do, but I hear bad things from people who work there. Lowell General and Lawrence General have fantastic non-transport ALS systems. Trinity used to do a lot of 911 in Lowell/Haverhill, but I'm not sure if that's still true. Obviously Boston EMS and Worcester EMS in their respective cities. Pro EMS does Cambridge and I think that's it. I think Armstrong does some non-transport ALS support for fire departments on the north shore. There might be other companies with a 911 contract here or there, but I think that about covers the main options in the Boston area anyways.
 
Medic pay up here in Washington starts a couple to a few dollars more than where you are living for 24 hour shifts, 12s (at least for Falck) were making 17-18 dollars an hour starting out I think.
 
New York City area has a few options. FDNY medics start at around $43,000, about $20/hr. Standard schedule I believe is 5 days on/2 days off/5 days on/3 days off. Keeps you moving so you're not always stuck on the same days, but there's always opportunity for schedule swaps and OT. With them, you're EMS only, don't have to be a FF.

There are also voluntary agencies; area hospitals that run 911 units, operating under FDNY but are separate entities. They tend to pay a better per hour to start, but it can be more difficult to get full time. FDNY has decent benefits and pension too.

Shifts across the board are 8 hours, with the opportunity for doubles.

People live all over and come in to work: anywhere in the 5 boroughs, long island, new jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and (lower) upstate new york. All depends on what you want to pay for rent/housing and how long you want to commute.

Most people in this area work multiple jobs. Whenever you meet someone on the job, the first question is always "Where else do you work".
 
I was an emt in NorCal I just in the last 3 weeks moved to Waco Texas and I'm loving it here i started at 19 a hr and got 8500 bucks in bonuses
 
EMS/Fire is seperate throughout most of Colorado.
 
californiaEMT13 said:
hey everyone, first off if you reply to this with general knowledge of your area/city it means a lot and thank you... okay so i am a emt-b in california. min wage $10 i run 911... i am in medic school now but do not want to be a medic in california whatsoever. i am not educated on any other state other than CA about ems. does anyone know a state or city that pays ok for either emt or medic that run 911 or work in house with fire? I'm wondering if every state is like california where IF you want to make money you HAVE to be a firefighter as well as a medic/emt. if thats the case i will put everything into fire, if not the case i want to focus on the medical side of fire. I'm 20 years old and have no family in CA so i want to move to where i can work and maybe make more than 10 bucks /hr. i appreciate your feedback very much!!
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Houston area start at around $13-$15 per hour for EMT-B, cost of living is cheap and people are awesome. Came here from Cali 8 yrs ago only to visit but decided to stay and never left.
 
AMR in Evansville, In is offering a sign on bonus right now for paramedics.

Of course, do you want to be a firefighter too? Fire service can be rewarding, but don't do it if your heart is not in it. If you really want one a firefighter/paramedic and perform both roles, there are a lot of options.
 
nater said:
AMR in Evansville, In is offering a sign on bonus right now for paramedics.

Of course, do you want to be a firefighter too? Fire service can be rewarding, but don't do it if your heart is not in it. If you really want one a firefighter/paramedic and perform both roles, there are a lot of options.
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Too bad more firefighters don't take your advice to heart. Seems like theres always the ones who hate ems and keep going to school for medic just to get hired
 
TransportJockey said:
Too bad more firefighters don't take your advice to heart. Seems like theres always the ones who hate ems and keep going to school for medic just to get hired
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There are, and I hate it. These folks make some of the worst medics I have met. This is downside to fire and ems merging. Some people are good at and enjoy both roles. Most prefer one or the other, and that is just fine.
 
californiaEMT13 said:
hey everyone, first off if you reply to this with general knowledge of your area/city it means a lot and thank you... okay so i am a emt-b in california. min wage $10 i run 911... i am in medic school now but do not want to be a medic in california whatsoever. i am not educated on any other state other than CA about ems. does anyone know a state or city that pays ok for either emt or medic that run 911 or work in house with fire? I'm wondering if every state is like california where IF you want to make money you HAVE to be a firefighter as well as a medic/emt. if thats the case i will put everything into fire, if not the case i want to focus on the medical side of fire. I'm 20 years old and have no family in CA so i want to move to where i can work and maybe make more than 10 bucks /hr. i appreciate your feedback very much!!
Click to expand...

I'm an emt in Rhode Island. Since we are such a small state we pretty much have 911 covered by all the fire depts. Of course we have volly depts where you can still get pad with call incentives and the like but really it's mostly the fore depts with the exception of a paramedic 911 service in South kingstown RI. but they are the only service dedicated to ONLY ems and not a mix of fire/ems. Pay for medics is around $18/hr for private service and about $25/hr for municipality depending on experience etc.


I'm gonna be honest. While there are opportunities for medics in Rhode island it's gonna be very difficult if you don't know anybody in RI to begin with. It's such a close knit community that it might be a bit of a challenge to get hired with a municipality. But if you do manage to get hired it's definitely worth it.

Whatever you decide good luck to you!
 
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