Paramedic - Hennepin EMS, Minneapolis, MN (Start 4 May 2015)

[WestMetroMedic]

Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN
Paramedic
(612) 873-5678
https://www.hcmc.jobs Scroll to job ID 12526 Paramedic, PF - Fulltime
https://www.facebook.com/hennepinems

We are currently accepting applications for full time, benefit earning Paramedic positions for our Emergency Medical Services department. Hennepin EMS is an urban/suburban 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Services agency that handles nearly 60,000 calls for service each year from the citizens and visitors of Hennepin County, MN. Hennepin EMS is based at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) and serves 14 municipalities, covering 266 square miles and a population of over 700,000.

Hennepin EMS deploys paramedic units throughout the communities we serve utilizing an integrated Computer Aided Dispatch system that incorporates Automatic Vehicle Location and GPS to ensure the closest ambulance is sent to all emergencies.

These positions are covered by the PERA Police/Fire Pension and are part of a collective bargaining unit (union). All new hires start at the union contract rate of $21.40/hr. Individuals selected to fill these positions must be able to rotate between shifts or work any straight shift (day, evening, or night) on any day, including weekends and holidays. For more information, please visit www.hennepinems.org.

For our out of state friends, Minnesota grants full state certification reciprocity to nationally registered paramedics!
Looking forward to the new academy starting May 4th.



Qualifications:

• Successful completion of an approved training program for EMT- Paramedic; and
• Six (6) months of experience as an emergency medical technician with a licensed ambulance service OR
• One (1) year of experience as an emergency medical technician in a hospital emergency department OR
• Successful completion of paramedic clinical rotations with Hennepin EMS accompanied by a letter of recommendation from the school’s Program Director.

Preferred:

• Minimum of three years full-time experience as a provider of pre-hospital care in an emergency setting (paramedic level preferred).
• Paramedic experience in a two tiered ALS system, using System Status Management (SSM) or flexible-dynamic deployment models.
• Full-time experience must be within one year of date of application.
• Associate Degree (AA, AAS, or AS) in business, business administration, management, education, finance, economics, healthcare, health sciences, public health, communication, computer science, information technology, or related field.

License/Certifications:

• Certification by the State of Minnesota as an EMT-P. (MN grants full reciprocity to National Registry holders)
• Must have a valid driver’s license or state equivalent and must have a satisfactory driving record including no more than two moving violations in the past three years of licensure.

Our Mission

We partner with our community, our patients and their families to ensure access to outstanding care for everyone, while improving health and wellness through teaching, patient and community education, and research.

Our Vision

Transforming the health of our community – exceptional care without exception.

Our Values

Patient & Family Centered • Excellence • Teamwork • Respect • Integrity • Compassion


Please Note: Offers of employment from Hennepin County Medical Center are conditional and contingent upon successful clearance of all background studies and pre-employment requirements.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Hi. Can you give us the lowdown on the hiring process?

I've heard great things about this agency.

 

[WestMetroMedic]

The hiring process has really evolved over the past couple years (for the better). I am completely enveloped in the Community Paramedic world, and haven't dealt with anything hiring related in a while. If I recall correctly, it now includes two oral interview panels, one panel is field paramedics, and the other panel is leadership folks. There is also a written exam (sometimes multiple choice, sometimes essay). If you get an offer, you will have to pass the pre-work screen physical exam, which is one of the best pre-work screens that I have ever taken (I was sore the next day).

I have worked for Hennepin for seven years and it is much more of a career than a job. Our organization takes really decent care of us and gives us great equipment to work with. We are on a Police and Fire pension plan (3% credit for each year, draw at 55), we are the wage leader for Minnesota (Our top pay is about $34/hour plus evening, night, weekend, FTO, Community Paramedic and paramedic student preceptor differentials, sick-leave-for-fitness, Decent PTO), all 33 RoadRescue UltraMedic ambulances have PowerLIFT and PowerLOAD systems, We are getting Zoll X-Series this year, LUCAS2, Dual Paramedic staffing. There is a great socioeconomic dichotomy in our urban/suburban service area with great first response agencies.

Are there downsides? Yeah. We do full-scale SSM, Our UHU's are around 0.42 last year (each medic does about 1200 calls a year, our leadership staff is very lean. All of the downsides are known issues and they are working on them as quickly as they can. SSM is not ideal, Our UHU's in 2013 were about 0.45, and we just increased our shift supervisor staffing from 9 FTE to 11 FTE. When I started, I was #110/112 on the seniority list and now 7 years later, I am 86/150.

Plenty of people retire from Hennepin EMS. Not many other EMS agencies that can claim that.

 

[TransportJockey]

Sounds like a pretty cool system to work in. Whats it like living up there? (I've mainly lived in the southwest)

 

[WestMetroMedic]

The elephant in the room - The cold sucks. Understanding how to dress and layer correctly is easy and paramount, but I get through most winters with a fleece jacket and sometimes a shell if there is precipitation. It gets down to -30f and it also snows about 60 inches a year. This morning, when I went out to my chicken coop, it was 25f.
Everyone always says it tongue in cheek, but it really is true; our summers are great.

The rest of this place is pretty amazing. Minneapolis has a great music and arts scene. Minneapolis is on par with Portland for a bicycling community. Minneapolis Pride is an amazing week. Housing is affordable. If you like to run, climb, ski, snowboard, swim, wakeboard, bike, dive, backpack, kayak, or canoe, there is plenty here for you.
Really decent skiing is 4 hours away in Northern MN, NE Wisconsin and UP Michigan. There is okay skiing in the Metro area.
Chicago is a 6 hour drive if you need to get to a Cubs game, but I prefer my Minnesota Twins (who are going to take the pennant next year).
Rock Climbers will find a variety of options in decent reach.
We have 11,842 glacier formed lakes over 500 acres, Minneapolis has 8 lakes, surrounded almost completely by walking and biking trails. There is great lake swimming from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
We have professional baseball, basketball (NBA and WNBA), hockey, football, lacrosse, and soccer.
A couple of our Paramedic's do not own cars and get around by bike and our great transit system (I take Commuter Rail and light rail two days a week).

We have paramedics who hail from Southern CA, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, Texas, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado as well as Spain, Denmark, Canada, and New Zealand. Everyone can adapt and love it here.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Sounds like a great system. SSM sucks though. Sitting in an ambulance when it's 20 below has got to be awful. No stations at all?

 

[jgmedic]

State reciprocity or do I need NREMT?

 

[WestMetroMedic]

full nremt reciprocity at no charge.
http://mn.gov/health-licensing-boards/emsrb/faqs/personnelfaq/

all SSM points have a physical station with quarters. mostly fire stations and police stations.
All shifts start and end downtown Minneapolis and may take you to many different places.
Minneapolis Fire Stations 8, 15, 21, 22, 27
Minneapolis Police Precinct 4
St. Louis Park Fire Station 2
Eden Prairie Fire Stations 1, 2, 3
Excelsior Fire District Stations 1 & 2
Minnetonka Main Fire Station
Minnetonka Police Glen Lake Substation
St. Anthony Fire Station
Hopkins Hennepin EMS substation

 

[TransportJockey]

With no charge I might add mn to my collection just in case

 

[pineapplenick]

This sounds like a great place to work! I was hoping to put this in a PM, but being new to this forum I could not quite figure it out, so pardon the vagueness on my exact situation.

I had a question in respects to the Job requirements. I noticed they require some prior experience or having done clinical internship with them. I'll be graduating (knock on wood) from an out-of-state program that is somewhat unique in that requires over 800 clinical hours (1/2 hospital 1/2 Field), amongst many other features. That being said, I do not meet the experience requirement. I am curious if you (WestMetroMedic) know of any other people in a similar situation, if they were able to proceed with the application process or what they were told before they applied!

Thanks for posting this!
-pineapplenick

 

[cruiseforever]

I have a few friends that work at HCMC and the are happy working there. We also have great fishing up here. Outside of November the winter this year has been very easy.

 

[WestMetroMedic]

If you interview well and don't come off as soaking wet behind the ears, any experience requirements can become moot. We want to hire good people who want a career that they can retire from. They don't want to hire people who are still trying to sow their oats and just want a "job" as they segue.
WIth that being said, IIRC we offer 75% tuition reimbursement, pto-for-fitness, no-premium single adult health insurance ($1500 deductible with $900 organization yearly contribution, so $600 yearly deductible), non-affiliated organized labor union, and much more.

 

[pineapplenick]

Thanks for the info, it sounds like a great place to work. Can you shed any light on the hiring process?

 

[WestMetroMedic]

pretty standard non-government process. Phone screen, in Person interview (Oral w/ Paramedics, Oral w/ Management, Written exam), Offer, Lift Test, get fitted for our Fabulous Khaki/Brown Uniform!