What's the Paramedic potential in LA and Orange county

[Ripley]

I have spent the past weeks trying to find out more information about being a paramedic in southern california and the general consensus is that if you don't get into a fire department it's not a good career.
I am a 32 year old female, former oil field truck driver, marine corps veteran. I have been volunteering with the Red Cross and the VA hospital and currently attend community college. I have spent months if not years trying to look for a career option that fits. If I could do my time again in the military I would have been a medic. I was at the VA recently talking to a vocational rehabilitation counselor. I mentioned my interest in being a paramedic and that it seemed like a lousy option in southern california, this counselor insisted that it is a good career with good pay even outside of a FD.

My question to you after spending a lot of time here researching but not getting a clear picture other than the FD good, Private company bad. What are the options? Is there hospitals that have their own ambulances with paramedic/emt-b team? Is the only option outside of a FD, a private company? No emergency work outside of FD? what about critical care transport?

From what I understand all paramedics in the fire departments are firefighters/paramedics so I can't get in without being qualified as a firefighter. I understand there is literally hundreds if not thousands of people applying for every position that opens up, that is when they do have hiring going on at all...
so even if I am physically and mentally capable of being a firefighter I would likely spend 3-6 years building up a resume.

I will be doing CERT training to help with my Red Cross work and Team Rubicon which I will hopefully train with this summer. I have volunteer wild land firefighting for next summer in mind although not necessarily to get into an FD just because I like feeling like I'm doing something helpful with my life.

 

[Mufasa556]

My advice is to get your EMT-basic and work in the field for a bit to see if you like it.

After some time in the field you'll have a better idea of what direction you want to go. You may decide this is your thing in life or It might open you up to other careers you haven't considered.

Private non-emergency Interfacility medics will top out around $22/hr. You can make a living in Kern County as an Emergency Response medic.

 

[NPO]

My question to you after spending a lot of time here researching but not getting a clear picture other than the FD good, Private company bad. What are the options? Is there hospitals that have their own ambulances with paramedic/emt-b team? Is the only option outside of a FD, a private company? No emergency work outside of FD? what about critical care transport?

It really depends where you are willing to go. If by "Southern California" you mean LACo, OC and to a degree SDCo, then by enlarge, yes, you seem to have the gist of it.
However, there are a lot of places in SoCal that do have private EMS that function very well. Ventura County, San Bernadino County, and Kern County to name a few. Kern County is considered by many to be the best place for a private paramedic working in the geographic lower half of California. California as a whole is not a state designed for EMS; protocols are generally lousy, funding is somehow not there, fraud is rampant in areas, and fire unions keep private ems under their big toe in many areas.

In SoCal there are not many hospitals that run an EMS system, and the few that do are IFT (Inter-Facility Transport) and most of those are contracted out to private ambulance companies. UCLA Ronald Reagan in Santa Monica is the only hospital I can think of that does their own EMS, and it is IFT, not go be confused with UCLA campus EMS.

Honestly, "Good" depends on your definition of good. If pay and benefits is all you care about, then the FD is great! However, in my own personal experience, fire based EMS tends to have a lower moral, and their medical proficiency tends to be lower.
If you just want to make en ought to get by, then there are lots of options. The biggest problem in SoCal is the fraudulent companies. There are many.
You mentioned CCT (Critical Care Transport) which is a whole beast of its own. I love it, personally.

From what I understand all paramedics in the fire departments are firefighters/paramedics so I can't get in without being qualified as a firefighter. I understand there is literally hundreds if not thousands of people applying for every position that opens up, that is when they do have hiring going on at all...
so even if I am physically and mentally capable of being a firefighter I would likely spend 3-6 years building up a resume.

Not every firefighter is a paramedic. And rules about becoming a paramedic vary by dept. Some are fine with you staying an EMT, some put you through medic school, some just say you need to be a paramedic within X number of years. It will all depend. There are thousands of applicants, you are right; however, being a woman, you do have an advantage. Whether we like it or not, the fire dept as an industry has come under fire (ba-dum-ch) in recent years about meeting demographic quotas. Firefighting is a great, rewarding career if you want to do it. Understand that 80+% of what you will do will be strictly EMS. I wish EMS and FD were paid more evenly, but that is another discussion all together.

 

[RocketMedic]

Are you up for a move?

 

[luke_31]

If you are a veteran then try out being an EMT-B. If you like that go for your paramedic. Once you've done at least a year as a medic, look at USAJOBS for paramedic positions. If you'd be willing to move you stand a good chance to get hired as a medic and would be in the federal system which would be a good place to work as a career.