Pros
Co-workers are polite, the pay was semi-competitive, and the schedule was made about 45 days out. I started here hopeful. The job overall is easy, most of what you will be doing are BLS discharges, some BLS IFTs, and rarely ALS IFTs. You will be running calls all day! From 0830-2030 (and beyond). They alternate schedules 3 day work week then 4 day work week. The average call volume is 6-8 transports a day. I have seen it as high as 8-10. Others have said as much as 12 before (rarely). You won't ever see the station until the end of shift once you're on a rig heading out to calls. When calls start dropping that's your whole day. There is no lunch break, eat while you can in between a call. The training is fairly easy, a day of orientation then a week or two of clearing. All in all not too terrible. You won't really give meds, start IV's, or run codes. The patients you will see are stable and 90% BLS.
Cons
An almost complete lack of respect for EMT's and Paramedics. I only worked there for a short amount of time and it felt much longer. EMT's and Paramedics are expected to work much harder, longer, and grueling hours than their nurse counterparts (also on rigs). The biggest issue was the schedule. I was told when I got hired that it was a Monday-Friday schedule. Not long afterwards the schedule changed where every EMT and paramedic suddenly had to work weekends. Typically not a big deal as companies change policies over time and demands/needs change. However, there was no communication with any employees (EMTs and Paramedics) about this change. They just did it and didn't bother to send so much as an email to inform employees of this significant change in their schedules. When employees raised issues about this and other issues, such as trying to assign routine IFT/BLS discharge calls near/after end of shift. There was an email sent by the director that EMTs and paramedics don't matter and their positions and the work they do are "optional." This was my reason for leaving the company. The other thing specifically for Paramedics to be aware of is that your narcotics are not secured in their rigs. There is no safe or locks for the narcs that you sign out. They will simply remain unsecured in your rig at your peril.
