Honolulu EMS

[Hawaii]

What do you guys think about them? Good pay? Good job opportunity? I'm currently a student here in Hawaii and my plans are to become a Emt/medic but don't know where. Is Hawaii a good place or should I go somewhere else? Born and raised here.

 

[ExpatMedic0]

I think Firetender can fill you in if he see's this. Ill tell you what little I know. I was young, single, Hawaii seemed like a great place.
I filed reciprocity into Hawaii 4 years ago and got it, but I never made the move. I also wanted to work for Honolulu EMS, since 3rd party municipal agency's seem like pretty good places.

I spoke with a couple Paramedics online working in there system and I met with 1 who is now the dean of health sciences at the college I use to go to. They all sang me the same sweet song of sorrow.
Mandatory overtime, no FTO's for new medics, most new medics have to work 2 years for AMR doing routine transport before they are picked up. I was told to contact a guy named "speedy" at AMR there who might have been able to help speed the process along so I could transfer into 911. I was also told by the dean (who is Hawaiian) they do not like EMS people from the mainland coming over to there system. I was also told you guys have a shortage of ALS and there is only one college that produces medics in the state.

This is all hearsay mind you, but I saw you had no reply yet. Hopefully some people can shed some light on this who are working over there now.

 

[Hawaii]

I think Firetender can fill you in if he see's this. Ill tell you what little I know. I was young, single, Hawaii seemed like a great place.
I filed reciprocity into Hawaii 4 years ago and got it, but I never made the move. I also wanted to work for Honolulu EMS, since 3rd party municipal agency's seem like pretty good places.

I spoke with a couple Paramedics online working in there system and I met with 1 who is now the dean of health sciences at the college I use to go to. They all sang me the same sweet song of sorrow.
Mandatory overtime, no FTO's for new medics, most new medics have to work 2 years for AMR doing routine transport before they are picked up. I was told to contact a guy named "speedy" at AMR there who might have been able to help speed the process along so I could transfer into 911. I was also told by the dean (who is Hawaiian) they do not like EMS people from the mainland coming over to there system. I was also told you guys have a shortage of ALS and there is only one college that produces medics in the state.

This is all hearsay mind you, but I saw you had no reply yet. Hopefully some people can shed some light on this who are working over there now.

Thanks for your feedback I've talked to Firetender he gave me some info too. The college that I'm going to as of right now is the only college that has an EMT/PARAMEDIC program. I'm in the process of getting into the program. Whats the difference between AMR and 911 if I may ask you?

 

[ExpatMedic0]

Well from my understanding, the Fire department does 911 on the big island. On Honolulu, Honolulu EMS is the primary 911 provider, AMR happens to provide inner facility transport services and if Honolulu EMS runs out of units, AMR is the back up 911 provider in extreme cases. Mind you this was all told to me about 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[thegreypilgrim]

What do you guys think about them? Good pay? Good job opportunity? I'm currently a student here in Hawaii and my plans are to become a Emt/medic but don't know where. Is Hawaii a good place or should I go somewhere else? Born and raised here.

I looked into it a while ago, but never went through with it. I suppose it depends on what you're looking for. I've been to Hawaii several times and I love it, but I'm not sure I could live there full time.

Honolulu EMS serves all of Oahu for 911. They have nice units, excellent protocols, and it's a municipal third service so it's a professional environment. But it doesn't pay very well (~$60k/year) considering Oahu's cost of living (even Foodland gets expensive). Shifts are 5, 8-hour shifts per week which I imagine would get tiresome.

Maui and Kauai are served by AMR and county fire departments.

Hawaii (Big Island) is Hawaii State Fire Dept. who apparently don't even have an official website. But they do at least have nice units which I got to see first hand when they came to transport my friend who got stung by a Portuguese Man O'War.

There is also Hawaii Life Flight, a fixed-wing CCT aeromedical service that operates on all the islands.

Another problem for someone like me is the whole local stigma against mainlanders. They don't really like transplants coming over and "taking jobs from locals". It sounds like you're local though, so you may not have that problem.

 

[Ocean711]

While I have not worked for Honolulu EMS, I've worked with them during my clinicals at KCC. If you go to KCC (you kind of don't have a choice in Honolulu) you'll work with them a lot. Overall, I would say that they know what hey are doing and are very competent clinically. They have extremely high expectations of everyone of their ambulances, including EMT Students. Make sure you study pathophysiology during your course. The medics will quiz you on the road. I cannot stress enough the importance of studying and practicing your skills. The instructors want to see you put forth effort.

As far as pay and benefits, you can find information on this at the Honolulu EMS website. I don't know it, but you can find it if you google it. From what I remember, they tend to hire after every semester. Also, EMT's are considered a temporary position. They expect you to go to Paramedic (MICT) school in 2-3 years. They will pay your tuition and pay you to attend classes, I thought hat was a good deal.

A few other pieces of advice before I go on too long. The EMT program is very competative, try to get as high of grades that you can during your prerequisites, and try to volunteer at a hospital. I volunteered in the Queen's ER. Good luck, let me know if you have any questions. I work on the mainland now, but I can tell you that KCC and Honolulu EMS are both good programs.

 

[meick77]

hello sir, do you know what the background process is like for paramedics at honolulu county...is there a polygraph and that sort of thing?