Protransport or Royal?

Melmd

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Pro-T

is there any probation period for rookies? do they have union protection etc?
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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Probation is very long in my opinion. It's 1,040 hours or one year, whichever comes first. I was hired in August 2011, but I didn't start working until almost two months later. Once I started working, I've been full time ever since and I am still on probation. Personally I'd like to see this change with ProTransport-1 because I feel your time with an FTO is very short (usually three days, or four days if you or your FTO feels like you need the fourth day; if you're FTO doesn't think you'll make the cut, they'll cut you early i.e. your first or second day) and lack of training (one day for orientation, one day for classroom training). After your orientation, classroom, and three (or four) days with an FTO, you are on your with little supervision and additional training, but still on probation for the next 1,040 hours or year. They have a QI thing though where after a certain amount of hours, you have to set-up a review and make a phone call so that you, somebody from their main offices in charge of reviews, and your station manager talk about your progress. My experience with this is that it's flawed. For example, I work graveyards. I rarely see my station manager because of this. If we have a lot of calls, the station manager is usually at the station or running calls with somebody so they don't get to see a lot of what you do so I feel like a lot of what they say in the review is "I didn't get to see you too much, but while you were around me, you were nice. Keep up the good work." It's about a two minute phone call and then you get another two reviews, and then you're off probation.

Although the training is short, we still manage to survive. I just think we'd do better if we had more training.

Yes, we do have union protection. There is a contract with TEMSA. They can still terminate you if you do not follow certain policies (e.g. policy 206 which has to do with vehicle safety: using a backer, stopping at red lights when red lights and sirens are activated, etc), not using restraints of 5150 holds (at minimum, one point restraint, preferably right ankle). I'd say most of it is common sense though, but if you want specific details, a hard copy of the contract should be somewhere around the station. Ask for it once you're hired.
 
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Melmd

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APRZ,

Thanks for the info sir, appreciate it! Looking forward getting hired at Pro-t! Is it possible to have a ride along at one of their shifts?
 
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Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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Per our policies, yes, but I haven't seen it. The only ride-alongs I've seen are EMT students from a school that ProTransport-1 has an agreement with.

I'd say your best bet is to contact ProTransport-1 Human Resource department or walk into a station and ask a supervisor about ride-alongs.

http://www.protransport-1.com/contact.html contains our HR phone number and also stations location.
 

itserik1234

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Anyone have any idea how, Priority One, works? I just received my NREMT Cert. and am looking for a job in the Modesto Area. I looked at AMR but they're not hiring and i think it's better if i get into a transport unit prior to getting into AMR as to get my feet wet :p Priority One, seems to be hiring and Pro-Transport won't hire me because I'm only 19 -_- I went on a ride-along when with Priority One when i was an EMT student and thought it was Okay. The two girls i was with were fun to be around with! Thing is, we had to drive all the way to stockton, galt and lodi for patients and didn't like that. The other day i went to memorial hospital, and seen Priority One ambulances there so another question I have is, Did priority one get a contract with Memorial hospital as well? Anyway, thanks for your time. I also hope this question made sense :wacko:
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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I do not know much about Priority One. I've seen their ambulances several times at Eden Medical Center (Castro Valley) and Kaiser Permanente Hayward (Hayward), and I've met some of their employees and ex-employees, but that's about it. One of the employees works at ProTransport-1 now, and he said that one thing he missed about Priority One compared to ProTransport-1 was all the CODE 2 calls they had (out of the Palo Alto station for ProTransport-1, CODE 2 calls are very rare). He disliked their 24 hour shifts, and said they'd only get partial pay for it because they some of it was considered "on call" time - although he said that they were required to still be there and in uniform (I cannot confirm this). He told me that he was making more at ProTransport-1 than Priority One (ProTransport-1 at the time was paying $9.50/hour without union). That's about all I can tell you, and again, I cannot confirm if it's true.

Some updates with ProTransport-1, they are union now (TEMSA). Starting pay I believe is $11.75/hour, whatever you make 1.45% goes to union (so if you don't work, you don't have to pay union). After probation (1,040 hours) or 1+ years, which ever comes first, your pay increases to $12.75/hour. I worked there and enjoyed it; I left on good terms.

In this area, AMR did both 9-1-1 and interfacility transport (IFT) until Paramedic Plus took over the 9-1-1 contract for Alameda County and Rural/Metro took over the 9-1-1 contract for Santa Clara County. Recently, Rural/Metro took over the contract for Kaisers in Alameda County, Santa Clara County, and Contra Costa County. When I first applied for AMR a year or two ago, they did their hiring by waitlisting. It didn't matter if they were hiring or not, they'd accept your application, and you'd be put into a line. I had a friend who got called back and hired around four months after applying (he applied half a decade ago when jobs weren't so bad and they still had the 9-1-1 contract). I had another friend who put in an application and didn't get called back until around a year later.

Like I keep saying, APPLY EVERYWHERE REGARDLESS OF IF THEY ARE HIRING OR NOT. You could get hired at Priority One and not hear back from AMR until a year later. If you get hired at AMR, they'd likely have you do IFT instead of 9-1-1 if they have IFT contracts (I think that's likely). It also gives you multiple options and backup plans. I have a friend who keeps applying to ambulance and standby companies and waiting for them to call back one at a time. He worked at ProTransport-1 for 2 days before he failed his FTO time, and then he got an interview at Royal Ambulance and didn't get hired, and got hired at Great America and didn't make the cut for their training I guess because he choked during a scenario. His EMT should expire in a couple of months from now unfortunate. :( Don't end up the same way. Apply everywhere, not just one-by-one, and not just at ones you hear are hiring.

Don't forget, NREMT isn't good enough to work. You need your state EMT card, green medical exam card, and ambulance driver certificate. Don't start applying until you get those or else your application will likely be ignored/not looked at.
 
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itserik1234

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I do not know much about Priority One. I've seen their ambulances several times at Eden Medical Center (Castro Valley) and Kaiser Permanente Hayward (Hayward), and I've met some of their employees and ex-employees, but that's about it. One of the employees works at ProTransport-1 now, and he said that one thing he missed about Priority One compared to ProTransport-1 was all the CODE 2 calls they had (out of the Palo Alto station for ProTransport-1, CODE 2 calls are very rare). He disliked their 24 hour shifts, and said they'd only get partial pay for it because they some of it was considered "on call" time - although he said that they were required to still be there and in uniform (I cannot confirm this). He told me that he was making more at ProTransport-1 than Priority One (ProTransport-1 at the time was paying $9.50/hour without union). That's about all I can tell you, and again, I cannot confirm if it's true.

Some updates with ProTransport-1, they are union now (TEMSA). Starting pay I believe is $11.75/hour, whatever you make 1.45% goes to union (so if you don't work, you don't have to pay union). After probation (1,040 hours) or 1+ years, which ever comes first, your pay increases to $12.75/hour. I worked there and enjoyed it; I left on good terms.

In this area, AMR did both 9-1-1 and interfacility transport (IFT) until Paramedic Plus took over the 9-1-1 contract for Alameda County and Rural/Metro took over the 9-1-1 contract for Santa Clara County. Recently, Rural/Metro took over the contract for Kaisers in Alameda County, Santa Clara County, and Contra Costa County. When I first applied for AMR a year or two ago, they did their hiring by waitlisting. It didn't matter if they were hiring or not, they'd accept your application, and you'd be put into a line. I had a friend who got called back and hired around four months after applying (he applied half a decade ago when jobs weren't so bad and they still had the 9-1-1 contract). I had another friend who put in an application and didn't get called back until around a year later.

Like I keep saying, APPLY EVERYWHERE REGARDLESS OF IF THEY ARE HIRING OR NOT. You could get hired at Priority One and not hear back from AMR until a year later. If you get hired at AMR, they'd likely have you do IFT instead of 9-1-1 if they have IFT contracts (I think that's likely). It also gives you multiple options and backup plans. I have a friend who keeps applying to ambulance and standby companies and waiting for them to call back one at a time. He worked at ProTransport-1 for 2 days before he failed his FTO time, and then he got an interview at Royal Ambulance and didn't get hired, and got hired at Great America and didn't make the cut for their training I guess because he choked during a scenario. His EMT should expire in a couple of months from now unfortunate. :( Don't end up the same way. Apply everywhere, not just one-by-one, and not just at ones you hear are hiring.

Don't forget, NREMT isn't good enough to work. You need your state EMT card, green medical exam card, and ambulance driver certificate. Don't start applying until you get those or else your application will likely be ignored/not looked at.

Yes, i know I have to get my state EMT card and all that other stuff :p I'm just looking while I'm in the process of that lol Thanks for the great advice ^_^
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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Hehe, if you didn't know, you wouldn't have been the first unfortunately. ;) I know when I finished EMT school - they told me nothing. I had friends applying with just their NREMT. :(
 

Angel

Paramedic
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Aprz where do you work now if you don't mind me asking.
You can pm me too if you like. FYI we just finished bidding and I made it out with 32 hrs, not too shabby
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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Congrats Angel!
 

itserik1234

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Hehe, if you didn't know, you wouldn't have been the first unfortunately. ;) I know when I finished EMT school - they told me nothing. I had friends applying with just their NREMT. :(

I guess i got a good school! lol They told me everything and anything i needed to know. Thank god for EMT-only schools ;)
 

Sliding

Forum Ride Along
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APRZ, FTO and Scenarios

Ok so since i have finished class in December i feel like i am not as sharp as i would like to be. In class i was on top of my stuff, and one of the better students, but with getting all my post class stuff done( ie: NREMT, state cert, ambulance cert, green card) i feel like i may have neglected my studies. i was wondering if you can give me some tips of what the FTO is like and what type of scenarios Great america would give, i have interviews with both this coming week and i feel ill prepared.
Also i have an interview at PT-1 in richmond and i live in SJ. you where saying that they start you on on-call shifts. is it worth the commute for on-call shifts or would i likely be getting close to 40 anyways?
 

TopGun77

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Ok so since i have finished class in December i feel like i am not as sharp as i would like to be. In class i was on top of my stuff, and one of the better students, but with getting all my post class stuff done( ie: NREMT, state cert, ambulance cert, green card) i feel like i may have neglected my studies. i was wondering if you can give me some tips of what the FTO is like and what type of scenarios Great america would give, i have interviews with both this coming week and i feel ill prepared.
Also i have an interview at PT-1 in richmond and i live in SJ. you where saying that they start you on on-call shifts. is it worth the commute for on-call shifts or would i likely be getting close to 40 anyways?


Don't commute to Richmond from San Jose for PT-1. They will likely give you 15-20 hours a week, no where near 40. They will put you on the schedule last minute, the night before, and expect you to come in the next morning at 6,7,8am whatever the case may be. If you live in SJ just go to work at Great America for a little bit, gain some experience, then apply to Rural Metro, Paramedics Plus, or AMR. You will save a bunch of money on gas commuting to Great America instead of Richmond. As for brushing up on your skills... ask a friend to go over the NR skill sheets with you. If your friend has any EMS background ask them to set up a scenario. You'll do fine on any skill assessments they send your way.
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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If he just works out of Richmond, that will be the case, but if he picks up shifts from Oakland and Hayward, he'll easily get >30/hours a week whilr he waits for the next shift bid to get a full time schedule. Even before they went union, they still asked/you could turn down shifts.

Is Great America still hiring? Put in an app everywhere, but I think Great America already did their interviews and academy for this season unless they do multiple per season.

Rural/Metro does IFT, but it's completely separate from their 911. It's at 550 Sycamore ave., Milpitas, CA. You'd likely work in Alameda or Contra Costa - I hear their Santa Clara shifts are all taken up. You can try puting an app in for 911 too, 1345 Vander Way, San Jose, CA, but every time I've gone there, they say they aren't hiring/don't have an app, right before the IFT started operations, they even let go of several of EMTs and Paramedics (except union made them hire them back). They are very over saturated with employees.

If you read Paramedic Plus newsletter, they will be do IFT too under a different name and separate from Paramedic Plus too in probably a couple of months. Keep an eye out on that. Since they started in November, they've hired 70 new employees. I've been applying every 3 months since they started taking applications for Alameda County. I am unsure how much experience they want for EMTs, at one point in their website, they only wanted Paramedics with 10+ years experience to apply.

Unless you plan on working for AMR San Mateo (911), who I heard was also over saturated with employees, and I don't want to discourage you from applying everywhere, really, apply everywhere, AMR is pretty much done for IFT wise in this area. Rural/Metro has the Kaiser contracts for Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Clara. I don't know how AMR in San Francisco and Contra Costa are doing (in Contra Costa, they have the 911 contract). Good luck. o/

I think people that keep saying wait until you get picked up at these 911 companies are dreamers. I didn't want to apply to anything IFT at first and kept applying to AMR when they had the 911 contract still, and it took me 13 months to get a job (I got hired by ProTransport-1 first which I worked there for about 8-9 months, and now I work for another IFT company, not 911) because I kept holding out. Even now, I still apply for 911 Rural/Metro and Paramedic Plus - no bites. It's a bad way to look at things, but I consider it almost impossible to get on considering they are getting 5,000 people applying for a position at a time. I have friends who refused to work IFT, they still don't have a job and one of them let their EMT cert expire. Don't be one of them! I know before, it was easier to get on, I had a friend who got hired by AMR after 4 months of holding out, but that was about 4 years ago way before they lost the contract for both Alameda County and Santa Clara County, and he had to still do IFT there until he eventually got a 911 position. That was at AMR Alameda County, I think AMR Santa Clara County was harder to get into cause I had a friend who applied around the same time, he was like #8 (they gave numbers to who was next in the academy) after around a year of waiting before Rural/Metro finally took over.
 
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Futureblue

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If there are so many NorCal EMT's why is the turn-over so high at Pro-Transport? I'd think that with a tight job market they would be more inclined to hold their job, even if it's not the ideal one. It seems like Pro-Transport does a mass hiring every few months.
 

Madball

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If there are so many NorCal EMT's why is the turn-over so high at Pro-Transport? I'd think that with a tight job market they would be more inclined to hold their job, even if it's not the ideal one. It seems like Pro-Transport does a mass hiring every few months.

Don't know about PT-1, but at my company the reason for a high turnover rate is because of a few different reasons; schedule changes for school, advancement to other positions (ER tech, Firefighter, 911) and low pay are just a few reasons. Recently i've seen more and more people just giving up on EMS all together.
 
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