Moving To Texas!

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RiderMedic

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Hello All!

I'm pulling up stumps and leaving New York and the time is drawing near to when I'm going to start having to put in my applications and resumes so I decided it would be a good time start gathering info on possible candidates for an employer.

I've been a medic since '03 and have been doing transports for the past 4 years (IABPs, vents, multi-drip (2+) transports, Isolettes, etc) and have the usual certs plus NRP and PNCCT. Hoping to finally get into a CCEMT-P class next month [class isn't definite yet]. I feel I'm way overdue for it.

Moving to Texas has been on my mind since I was in medic class and now I'm finally making it a reality. I'm looking at Rockport as my #1 choice for a home. Unfortunately, I'm finding info on EMS/Transport services in the Rockport/Corpus Christi area to be quite bare. Seems a lot of places don't have websites. :sad:

The only services in the area with websites up are Aransas County EMS, Guardian EMS, Advance EMS, and Coastal Care EMS. If anyone has any info or experience with these companies or any others in that area I'd love to hear about it.

Also, I have no qualms about driving long distances [3 - 4 hours] if I can get a 24 hour shift, the pay is worth the hassle, and if the company allows living that far away. So I'm open for suggestions as well :).

[As a back-up, I was thinking about the Georgetown area IF there was nothing viable employment wise in the Corpus Christi area and yes, I'm aware of Williamson County EMS. Too bad CareFlite is in Dallas as I have no plans on living in the Dallas area.]

Thanks in advance!
 
Are you set on Corpus being the area you live in? Houston has job openings all the time. You just have to constantly be looking because they can usually fill a spot pretty quick.
 
I know of 2 of the services mentioned and Id pass on both of them.

In georgetown area your options are limited. Either fire departments or Williamson County.

I wont pimp my employer this time.
 
bigdogems said:
Are you set on Corpus being the area you live in? Houston has job openings all the time. You just have to constantly be looking because they can usually fill a spot pretty quick.
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Been to Houston and have no desire to live there.

shfd739 said:
I know of 2 of the services mentioned and Id pass on both of them.
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Curious . . . which two and why?
 
RiderMedic said:
Been to Houston and have no desire to live there.



Curious . . . which two and why?
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Can't read people's minds, but I bet Guardian is one of them. lol

Personal experience, they are an unorganized private service that is very minimal in the area of pay, employee wellfare, morale, and delivered level of quality.

What's wrong with Houston if you don't mind me asking? Great shopping, one of the best (if not the best) housing markets, an economy that is much more stable than many out there, great schools, a lot of entertainment available, and some of the most progressive reputable EMS systems around. Of course we have some of the most notorous and crappy privates around, but that is a different story.....................
 
What he said ^^^^


Sent from my electronic overbearing life controller
 
RiderMedic said:
Been to Houston and have no desire to live there.



Curious . . . which two and why?
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I felt the same way about Houston, but believe it or not there are some decent areas, it's not all red necks and inner city here. I would pass on Corpus. If you are dead set against Houston I'd look at Austin or Dallas. There's just really not much going on in Corpus.
 
I know of a company with a bunch of openings in Temple...Course it is Temple. But the future looks bright :cool:
 
shfd739 said:
I know of a company with a bunch of openings in Temple...Course it is Temple. But the future looks bright :cool:
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I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're referring to Acadian, which does look like a nice company I'll give you that and they also have their own Critical Care protocols separate from standard ALS protocols which is nice except that IABP requires a nurse or tech to go along when I'm used to going alone half the time now on an IABP transport and if we have more than 3 drips another medic automatically goes along and I use his pump in addition to mine NOT start taking facility iv pumps! Sorry, rant off.

As far as Corpus/Rockport area goes it's just I'm from Long Island and I love the water, fishing, boating, etc, and Rockport just seems like a nice place to settle down as well but as always I'm keeping my options, like Williamson, open just in case.

Also, I spent 6 years landlocked in Pittsburgh and it wasn't fun. :sad:
 
Do you prefer Private over County run? We have great County run services out here, and the privates do not hold many 911 contracts.
 
Fish said:
Do you prefer Private over County run? We have great County run services out here, and the privates do not hold many 911 contracts.
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First, sorry I didn't reply to PM but apparently you need a minimum of 5 posts before you can send a PM lol, and secondly, I can go either way when it comes to employers. I look for quality of benefits, pay, protocols, equipment, and employee retention over whether it's private or not. And as far as 911 versus Critical Care Transport again I can go either way. Both have their pros and cons.
 
ok, first corpus and the surrounding suburbs of nueces county...is a firefighter/ems service at the county level. All are paramedics so private ems companies from rockport to mcallen have a stock pile of paramedic certified firefighters. Not sure about the hospitals and the er-tech positions offered around there...Guardian EMS runs out in the boonies in between San Anton and Corpus..They run 911 outside of Nueces and in Alice, tx... . Another I worked when I was down there was Five-star EMS. Theyre a local private transport in Corpus Christi, ran by good people, and pay is decent with 24 hour shifts...last time I checked. Lived there for a year or so and Have no need to ever go back, way better places to live in Texas.
 
Emt512 said:
ok, first corpus and the surrounding suburbs of nueces county...is a firefighter/ems service at the county level. All are paramedics so private ems companies from rockport to mcallen have a stock pile of paramedic certified firefighters. Not sure about the hospitals and the er-tech positions offered around there...Guardian EMS runs out in the boonies in between San Anton and Corpus..They run 911 outside of Nueces and in Alice, tx... . Another I worked when I was down there was Five-star EMS. Theyre a local private transport in Corpus Christi, ran by good people, and pay is decent with 24 hour shifts...last time I checked. Lived there for a year or so and Have no need to ever go back, way better places to live in Texas.
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Thanks for the info. Appreciated. As far as living goes, I'm looking at possibly Rockport NOT Corpus. After 17 years of Metro area living [Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, NY] I'm looking forward to a quiet, laidback kind of living when I get home from work. Again, all options are still open.
 
Does a town of 2000 in the desert sound good?
 
Extreme Caution

Use extreme caution when choosing a private service. While there are some that are very legitimate, others are very low-tier. Your experience is more than that of the average private medic in Texas. I worked for years in Texas, and once owned a service in San Antonio. My suggestion - find a decent service, county if possible, then look into Austin/Travis County EMS. Away from the Gulf, but very nice. Then look into the various air services, particularly AirEvac Lifeteam. Your background in CCT would be a big plus. Also, don't give up on the Houston area. Look into Baytown and Galveston, as well as Brazoria County. There are others, but again, use caution with the small privates. I hear MedStar in FW is hiring with great salaries.
 
akjim99 said:
Use extreme caution when choosing a private service. While there are some that are very legitimate, others are very low-tier.
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Oh, you have no idea . . . bouncing paychecks, medical plan still being paid for out of paycheck AFTER employer cancels all medical coverage without telling anyone, schedules being changed with no notice and employees being told to accept new schedule or be let go, etc. Yeah I've experienced my share of bad private services. . .


akjim99 said:
Your experience is more than that of the average private medic in Texas. I worked for years in Texas, and once owned a service in San Antonio. My suggestion - find a decent service, county if possible, then look into Austin/Travis County EMS. Away from the Gulf, but very nice. Then look into the various air services, particularly AirEvac Lifeteam. Your background in CCT would be a big plus. Also, don't give up on the Houston area. Look into Baytown and Galveston, as well as Brazoria County. There are others, but again, use caution with the small privates. I hear MedStar in FW is hiring with great salaries.
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Thanks. I see AirEvac is hiring down in McAllen. Might look into that if they're still looking when I'm closer to leaving NY.
 
Austin-Travis county EMS is hiring i believe.. or at least accepting applications, they run dual medic and i heard they were a good service to work for.

if your willing to work for Fire based EMS go to Firejobs.com and look up Texas, theres at least 6-7 departments hiring Medics only (some small cities and some bigger)

Im testing for San Antonio Fire on Saturday.. i hope i can get in cause from what i hear its an awesome department and an awesome city!
 
MusicMedic said:
Im testing for San Antonio Fire on Saturday.. i hope i can get in cause from what i hear its an awesome department and an awesome city!
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I didn't realize the test was already here! Good luck! It's definitely a great department to work for. Pay and benefits can't be beat, great camaraderie, and plenty of any type of call you can imagine (except cold exposures...). Our EMS has a bad rap, but we've already made some big changes, and have even bigger ones coming soon. If you have any questions, PM me :P
 
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PoeticInjustice said:
I didn't realize the test was already here! Good luck! It's definitely a great department to work for. Pay and benefits can't be beat, great camaraderie, and plenty of any type of call you can imagine (except cold exposures...). Our EMS has a bad rap, but we've already made some big changes, and have even bigger ones coming soon. If you have any questions, PM me :P
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I am glad to hear you guys are trying to better the rep and service, it has got a bad rap lately. What kind of things are you guys doing to improve? WHAT NO COLD EXPOSURES!
 
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