Municipal EMS employment in U.S.

[theasianEMT]

Hey all, I'm a current EMT with experience on a CCT (ALS)/ BLS hospital-based EMS ambulance as well as 911 hospital experience. I am considering going to paramedic school and moving someplace else to get picked up at a municipal EMS agency. I do not mind having to start as an EMT-I first and getting promoted btw. Anyone have any suggestions on the best places to go as far as getting employed? I will also be looking towards signing up for the National guard as well as an Health Services Officer...Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

 

[TransportJockey]

My best advice would be to look at Texas. Theres a large number of good municipal and county systems

 

[theasianEMT]

Thanks for your response! I will look into Texas I have heard a lot of their EMS systems. Any other places that you would recommend in other states? Like somewhere out east?

 

[TransportJockey]

Thanks for your response! I will look into Texas I have heard a lot of their EMS systems. Any other places that you would recommend in other states? Like somewhere out east?

Durham or wake county ems in north Carolina. East baton rogue EMS in Louisiana

 

[theasianEMT]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[DrParasite]

I would not look at NC until after you have completed paramedic school, they are a heavy ALS state and their EMT turnover is pretty bad (at least compared to their paramedic turnover) for non-homegrown EMTs.

 

[theasianEMT]

I would not look at NC until after you have completed paramedic school, they are a heavy ALS state and their EMT turnover is pretty bad (at least compared to their paramedic turnover) for non-homegrown EMTs.

I have heard that you need a few years of experience at least in paramedicine before they will consider hiring you. I was not planning on moving yet but definitely wanted to know where to head to in order to grow in EMS. Do you know any other good places to work in terms of county municipal or city municipal jobs for paramedics?

 

[Ensihoitaja]

I posted this in another employment thread recently- we're not strictly-speaking a municipal, but we're pretty close. The hospital is run by an independent governmental authority.

Denver Health is hiring, last I heard there's going to be another academy in January.

Starting pay is $21.50 with more for experience. Benefits are good, affordable insurance, 401(a) and 457(b) with matching by the hospital.

Protocols are here.

There's lots of opportunities to do different work, as well. We have solo airport medics, bike medics, CCT medics, and a wildland medical team.
Also evening and night shift differentials, paid CE hours, free CE/cert classes, and tuition reimbursement.

 

[theasianEMT]

I posted this in another employment thread recently- we're not strictly-speaking a municipal, but we're pretty close. The hospital is run by an independent governmental authority.

Denver Health is hiring, last I heard there's going to be another academy in January.

Starting pay is $21.50 with more for experience. Benefits are good, affordable insurance, 401(a) and 457(b) with matching by the hospital.

Protocols are here.

There's lots of opportunities to do different work, as well. We have solo airport medics, bike medics, CCT medics, and a wildland medical team.
Also evening and night shift differentials, paid CE hours, free CE/cert classes, and tuition reimbursement.

Thanks for the heads up. That sounds like a great job and opportunity. Too bad I'm not a paramedic yet. I will however keep this mind for the future. This is a hospital based job then, if I'm understanding this correctly?

 

[Ensihoitaja]

Thanks for the heads up. That sounds like a great job and opportunity. Too bad I'm not a paramedic yet. I will however keep this mind for the future. This is a hospital based job then, if I'm understanding this correctly?

Yes. We do hire some EMTs, but they primarily drive the CCT and detox van.

 

[Imacho]

www.medic911.com We're based in Charlotte and work for Mecklenburg county. Great system and benefits. I've recruited a few from this board that now work for MEDIC. They can confirm that its great to work here. We're also on crew cab type 1 trucks and looking to replace the entire fleet in the next few years, as well as move to a larger HQ. We've outgrown our current building..... again.

 

[TransportJockey]

MEDIC was on my short list when I was looking for a new place. I have heard great things about it

 

[NomadicMedic]

MEDIC was also on my short list a few years ago. The SSM thing killed it for me. I met a crew sitting in a CVS parking lot that did nothing but ***** about the service. Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Charlotte is a cool city. Lots of changes over the past decade, almost all positive. Low cost of living for an urban area. Plus the beach and the mountains are both within easy weekend trip range.

Move (or visit) here and I'll spring for some beers at one of the 20+ breweries we have here now.

Edit: MEDIC isn't the only game in town. I was at MedCenter Air for several years and they have a busy ground division. Plus lots of more rural county-based systems in the vicinity.

 

[theasianEMT]

www.medic911.com We're based in Charlotte and work for Mecklenburg county. Great system and benefits. I've recruited a few from this board that now work for MEDIC. They can confirm that its great to work here. We're also on crew cab type 1 trucks and looking to replace the entire fleet in the next few years, as well as move to a larger HQ. We've outgrown our current building..... again.

Thanks for the insight, I haven't heard about MEDIC before. Is the system great for a newbie medic to try to get hired out there?

 

[theasianEMT]

Charlotte is a cool city. Lots of changes over the past decade, almost all positive. Low cost of living for an urban area. Plus the beach and the mountains are both within easy weekend trip range.

Move (or visit) here and I'll spring for some beers at one of the 20+ breweries we have here now.

Edit: MEDIC isn't the only game in town. I was at MedCenter Air for several years and they have a busy ground division. Plus lots of more rural county-based systems in the vicinity.

That sounds like a great area to live in for me. I might just take you up on that offer haha. How is flight medicine there compared to the ground EMS? Is it used often times in emergencies or more of waiting for a CCT call to do IFTs? Not that I mind doing either...just curious is all

 

[Imacho]

Thanks for the insight, I haven't heard about MEDIC before. Is the system great for a newbie medic to try to get hired out there?

I was a new hire medic with zero 911 experience. With that being said, I was thrown into the deep end. Luckily with all the support of friends, coworkers and supervisors I survived. If you have previous 911 experience you should be fine.

As Remi said, there are a lot of Micro breweries here. And Asheville NC has the largest amount of breweries per capita. It's only a gorgeous 2 hr drive away. I've visited quite a few. A brew tour can make for an exciting weekend. And there are quite a few of us that home brew.

 

[theasianEMT]

I see, thanks for the insight. I'll definitely look into it once I get my medic license. I do have some 911 EMT-B experience as a tech but in terms of ambulance care I mostly do CCTs. So I might look into getting some sort of 911 experience before moving out to NC and looking at the different systems out there. Definitely wanted to know what my options were though before making the move. And in terms of breweries, that sounds magnificent. A good weekend getaway would be nice for a brewery tour. Thanks!

 

[Carlos Danger]

That sounds like a great area to live in for me. I might just take you up on that offer haha. How is flight medicine there compared to the ground EMS? Is it used often times in emergencies or more of waiting for a CCT call to do IFTs? Not that I mind doing either...just curious is all

When I was at MedCenter Air (MCA), the ground division was based at Carolinas Medical Center and was primarily CCT and ALS interfacility, staffed by the flight RN's and flight RRT's with EMT and paramedic drivers. The paramedics would sometimes be paired with one of the flight RN's instead of a second RN or an RRT.

Since I left, the ground division has become much busier, and my understanding is that most ground crews are now paramedic/EMT and that they do mostly BLS and some ALS transfers. But there still is the potential for a paramedic to become involved with the CCT side of things.

 

[theasianEMT]

When I was at MedCenter Air (MCA), the ground division was based at Carolinas Medical Center and was primarily CCT and ALS interfacility, staffed by the flight RN's and flight RRT's with EMT and paramedic drivers. The paramedics would sometimes be paired with one of the flight RN's instead of a second RN or an RRT.

Since I left, the ground division has become much busier, and my understanding is that most ground crews are now paramedic/EMT and that they do mostly BLS and some ALS transfers. But there still is the potential for a paramedic to become involved with the CCT side of things.

Okay I see. That's a full team to do a CCT call. Out here in SoCal there has been a lot of CCTs now being handled by only a paramedic and EMT as a driver or two paramedics staffing the ambulance. Are the paramedics that are FP-C allowed to do flight ALS IFTs with the RN then? Or is that a full team of RNs and RRTs only as well?