Speaking of Verihealth/Falck Northern Cali, I have an interview with them coming up soon. Anyone have any info on how they are as a company, how they treat their employees as well as what to expect on interview day? I know I'll be doing a written test, a skills test, and an interview, but that's about it.
Falck - or the 900-pound gorilla no one is aware of
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TheLocalMedic
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Probably just like any other BLS IFT company... Concerned about the bottom line but not the employees. If you're a newbie to EMS just remember that there's a whole lot more to it than simply shuffling old folks back and forth between hospital and nursing home. Get into the 911 side of things before they suck out your soul.
unleashedfury
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isn't that the truth. I did BLS IFT's for 2 years private. I never felt burned out so bad until
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We all have to start somewhere though...
This is something I never understood. Why work BLS IFT for $11/hr if it's really that bad? Why not drive a fork lift at Costco for $19/hr or wash windows at the airport for $25/hr until getting hired by a 911 company or getting your EMT-P? If it's really as bad as everyone says it is, why do it at all? I have other options as do most people. For pay that low there has to be some inherent enjoyment in the job or else I feel like no one would do it. I keep hearing "EMTs are a dime a dozen, that's why they get paid so little", but people with zero skills, education, and certifications, are even more of a dime a dozen, and yet plenty of them can get jobs that pay much better than your entry level EMT. If the job isn't enjoyable, why does anyone do it?
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DrankTheKoolaid
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I honestly think they do it because EMS is not a job, it's a calling.
unleashedfury
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Cause some of us love what we do, some say its a calling a la la Corky but in the same sentence EMT's are a dime a dozen, yet if you wanna make a good paramedic. You need to be at least a good EMT. it sucks being at the bottom but we all got to start somewhere.
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Being a good basic does not = being a good medic . As long as their program gives them a feel for the operations and the hiring company has a halfway decent new employee program. Some of the best medics I know never works a day as an EMT .
Amberlamps916
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I'm talking about something different though. You guys are talking about working 911, going to medic school, etc., right? Going to medic school and sometimes even working 911 for that matter doesn't require one to work as an IFT EMT-B at all, and yet plenty of people do it and complain about it. If your ultimate goal is to work for a 911 ambulance and go to medic school why not just go straight there? Why suffer through working IFTs if they really are that bad? Sorry to hijack this thread, this is just something that I've never understood about EMS.
TheLocalMedic
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Yes, we all "have to start somewhere". But in my experience, the BLS IFT biz should be a stepping stone to something better. It's essentially a glorified taxi job where you get to drive a nifty ambulance in the bargain. Sure some people find satisfaction in it, but there are some people who also find satisfaction in picking their nose. In my opinion it's just a resume builder until you can get in with a 911 company.
unleashedfury
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I agree and I disagree. I know people who went through a community college program that were EMT right to paramedic. and have been successful.
But I also know paramedics who really don't have basic skills down and are paramedics the one I work with regularly shes very intelligent. she could probably regurgitate the entire book to you, the protocol book and the paramedic school book. But just can't apply the skills obtained.
SandpitMedic
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Is Costco or the Airport hiring ???
Here's some of the gory details
The complaint filed with the US Dept of Labor OFCCP (#100180804) against Falck and its subsidiaries, Falck USA (Washington state) and Lifestar USA (Washington, D.C) alleged several claims of discrimination against veterans:
* That one dispatcher conducted a 4 1/2 year campaign of harassment against a veteran, because he was a veteran, including: bullying, dangerous assignments, assignment to rigs with a histroy of mechanical breakdowns, harassment, illegal mandatory overtime, excessive deprivation of meal and bathroom breaks, sleep deprivation through scheduling assignments, failure to supply lift assists for two man crews on bariatric assignment, failure to send tow trucks while stranded in a snow storm, and attempts to impose illegal orders that would jeopardize patients and fellow crew members.The complaint specifies names and dates of these incidents in great detail.
* That one of the subsidiary company's managing accountants attempted to discriminate against veterans as a class in the following way: the plan was to fire all veterans, in order to take advantage of federal tax breaks twice over. Since there is a tax benefit for hiring certain veterans, the plan was to take the tax benefit in that tax year, which is legal, but then to lower costs, and cow other workers into following, to fire all the veterans, then offer them jobs back, only at pay of $2/hour less. If they accepted, the company would than take advantage of the tax credit again, in the same tax year, in effect double-dipping on the tax benefit. The net effect would be that there would be no new veterans hired, the company would take two times the tax benefit they would be entitled to. A major part of the plan was to strike fear into the hearts of non-veteran workers--since once they saw that the veterans were being treated so badly, that fear would take over and the rest would fall into line as the company would then cut everybody's pay by $2/hour. In c company wher many people are at or close to the poverty level already.
* Falck USA's human resources department displayed a pre-conceived prejudice that all veterans were subject to post traumatic stress disorder. It attempted to offer crisis counseling to the veteran lodging the complaint simply for lodging the complaint. The clinical counseling center, to its credit, declined to accept any such case. Nevertheless, the parent company Falck continues an international effort to promote similar crisis counseling efforts, constituting and institutionalizing an obvious hostile workeplace for veterans.
The complaint was withdrawn, reluctantly, as the fear factor was so great that there was considerable risk that witnesses with actual proof would, under fear of losing their job, recant ample testimony supporting the claims.
During the week following the filing of the complaint, the person filing it was extensively spied on, and harassed indirectly in numerous ways, some described above. Some time later, the dispatcher in question was no longer reporting for work, and hasn't been seen at work for months, but it is not widely known whether he was fired, or suspended, or placed on medical leave. The withdrawal of the complaint, in part, only means that the company agrees to adhere to its own code of conduct, which pledges non-discrimination agains any protected class. Yet blatant discrimination continues, as it now seems likely that a corporate spy was sent to badmouth the veteran, and any partners associated with him; efforts to get veterans into the company are proceeding very slowly, and existing veterans are complaining that the company does not back up their EMTs in the inevitable misunderstandings that families and facilities have in dealing with medical transport. In the first week of the government shutdown, the dispatch operation began stepping up more hazardous assignments to the veteran, his car was hit probably by a company vehicle in the company parking lot while he was at work, and some dispatchers became noticeably more quarrelsome, as if trying to provoke an incident, which, unfortunately it did, but probably will not come out in their favor--since it's almost an instant replay of the initial incident.
This much is certain: most of the executives making decisions that create a climate of fear are still in place, and bad decisions are still being made, in the opinion of the rank and file. The company so far has not made a move to publicize to its workers worldwide that there even was a complaint, much less a decision that was at least favorable to the whistle-blower, in that the company pledged to stick to its code of conduct, and recognized in writing that it should stick to its code of conduct.
The complaint filed with the US Dept of Labor OFCCP (#100180804) against Falck and its subsidiaries, Falck USA (Washington state) and Lifestar USA (Washington, D.C) alleged several claims of discrimination against veterans:
* That one dispatcher conducted a 4 1/2 year campaign of harassment against a veteran, because he was a veteran, including: bullying, dangerous assignments, assignment to rigs with a histroy of mechanical breakdowns, harassment, illegal mandatory overtime, excessive deprivation of meal and bathroom breaks, sleep deprivation through scheduling assignments, failure to supply lift assists for two man crews on bariatric assignment, failure to send tow trucks while stranded in a snow storm, and attempts to impose illegal orders that would jeopardize patients and fellow crew members.The complaint specifies names and dates of these incidents in great detail.
* That one of the subsidiary company's managing accountants attempted to discriminate against veterans as a class in the following way: the plan was to fire all veterans, in order to take advantage of federal tax breaks twice over. Since there is a tax benefit for hiring certain veterans, the plan was to take the tax benefit in that tax year, which is legal, but then to lower costs, and cow other workers into following, to fire all the veterans, then offer them jobs back, only at pay of $2/hour less. If they accepted, the company would than take advantage of the tax credit again, in the same tax year, in effect double-dipping on the tax benefit. The net effect would be that there would be no new veterans hired, the company would take two times the tax benefit they would be entitled to. A major part of the plan was to strike fear into the hearts of non-veteran workers--since once they saw that the veterans were being treated so badly, that fear would take over and the rest would fall into line as the company would then cut everybody's pay by $2/hour. In c company wher many people are at or close to the poverty level already.
* Falck USA's human resources department displayed a pre-conceived prejudice that all veterans were subject to post traumatic stress disorder. It attempted to offer crisis counseling to the veteran lodging the complaint simply for lodging the complaint. The clinical counseling center, to its credit, declined to accept any such case. Nevertheless, the parent company Falck continues an international effort to promote similar crisis counseling efforts, constituting and institutionalizing an obvious hostile workeplace for veterans.
The complaint was withdrawn, reluctantly, as the fear factor was so great that there was considerable risk that witnesses with actual proof would, under fear of losing their job, recant ample testimony supporting the claims.
During the week following the filing of the complaint, the person filing it was extensively spied on, and harassed indirectly in numerous ways, some described above. Some time later, the dispatcher in question was no longer reporting for work, and hasn't been seen at work for months, but it is not widely known whether he was fired, or suspended, or placed on medical leave. The withdrawal of the complaint, in part, only means that the company agrees to adhere to its own code of conduct, which pledges non-discrimination agains any protected class. Yet blatant discrimination continues, as it now seems likely that a corporate spy was sent to badmouth the veteran, and any partners associated with him; efforts to get veterans into the company are proceeding very slowly, and existing veterans are complaining that the company does not back up their EMTs in the inevitable misunderstandings that families and facilities have in dealing with medical transport. In the first week of the government shutdown, the dispatch operation began stepping up more hazardous assignments to the veteran, his car was hit probably by a company vehicle in the company parking lot while he was at work, and some dispatchers became noticeably more quarrelsome, as if trying to provoke an incident, which, unfortunately it did, but probably will not come out in their favor--since it's almost an instant replay of the initial incident.
This much is certain: most of the executives making decisions that create a climate of fear are still in place, and bad decisions are still being made, in the opinion of the rank and file. The company so far has not made a move to publicize to its workers worldwide that there even was a complaint, much less a decision that was at least favorable to the whistle-blower, in that the company pledged to stick to its code of conduct, and recognized in writing that it should stick to its code of conduct.
Verihealth is a great company to work for, I'm very proud to say I work for them, they've made a good name for themselves in the Sonoma County area. And at our new pay of $16/hr and some change for a mostly (for now) IFT company? Can't complain! Great people, management is good (compared to others from what I've read on this forum) fun shifts, we have a contract with the Sonoma raceway... Formerly Infineon Raceway... And if course the chance to step up into 911 and/or CCT
PM sent.
Our jumpsuits beat any other ambulance companies uniform when it came to going to the bathroom and working 24's and graveyards! Just get out of bed and zip right into it. I think our red makes us stand out better too, we come off as different compared to the normal navy blue.
If Care owns Verihealth now... Then why aren't care EMTs getting paid as rediculously high as Verihealth EMTs.? Last I knew, Care pays $10 for non-24's..
dC0m
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Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there, cowboy. First off, it's Falck who owns Verihealth (they also own Care in OC). The reason for the difference in pay is because of the region. Living costs in NorCal is ridiculously high, especially in the Bay Area. That is why Verihealth/Falck in the Bay Area are making $16/hour compared to Care's $10/ hour. Different regions, different living costs.
Plus, just because a company own several entities, doesn't mean they have equal pay across the board. Look at the bigger companies like AMR and R/M; the pay varies all over the place. I'm hearing AMR in Sacramento make $16/hour whereas AMR down here in SD make close to minimum wage.
AMR around here in Yolo/Placer/Solano makes $14/hr if I'm not mistaken.