Im an emt in california, I know its not colorado, but it is out west. I work for american medical response and I know we have divisions in colorado. I know one guy who used to work here and moved out to boulder to be a medic out there and last I heard he likes it alot better than here. Now idk if you have worked in ems before but I hope I can shed some light without scaring you away but at the same time make the truth known. I can't speak for anywhere but southern california and vegas that's alli know for sure but have been told its true in most other places. Idk how much you make as a trucker but you have to be aware by switching to an ems job you may take a severe pay cut, unless you work for the state or a fire dept. And like I said idk about other places but around here you are a taxi driver. Nothing more. There is nothing but extreme abuse of our 911 system, and nobody does a darn thing about it. 1 because amr is all about profit, not the patient. And 2 because nobody else cares. The attitude of our patients is always "well I have medi-cal/medicare so I don't pay for anything so I don't care." 90% of the calls I run are bs (drug seekers, or uneducated people who don't understand the 911 EMERGENCY system) I've had people call us out because they didn't have a ride home from the casino, and say " its ok I live right by the hospital and I have medi-cal so its ok so just take me home" I've had a lady call because she didn't have anyone to watch her kids and she wanted to walk to circle k to get something to drink, then call back 20 mins later because she still didn't have anyone. And so on and so on.. I run about 6 calls in a 12 hrs shift and iid say out of the 24 calls a week that I run, 21 of them are bs. Around here you are extremely busy all the time for all the wrong reasons which burns you out really quick. Its def not what we went to school for. And because we are so busy with non emergency calls the few calls that really are emergent, response times are sometimes very long because we have all our available ambulances on calls for stubbed toes, and finger pains. So, I've heard colorado is better than here, but idk in what ways. Amr isn't a very good company to work for. You are just a number to them, they don't care about you or your family, they only care about money. Money also comes before the patients as well. Don't get me wrong, when I run good calls where I can actually help someone in a time of need , I love my job for that time being Its very rewarding. Thats what i went to school for and thats what i signed up for this job for was to help people in need when there is an emergency with their health. Ive brought 2 lives into this world at work and that feels awesome, but ive also seen hundreds of lives leave this world and that always sucks. In 5 years I've had 3 " thank yous" from my patients. So its def not what its made out to be in school. Im exposed to a million diseases I could bring home to my gf. No I don't have kids but if I did that would be even more reason to say that just isn't worth the very low wages I make. I've been on scene when bullets were flying, had patients with guns, been threatened, spit on, thrown up on, pooped, on bled on, and spit blood on, pepper sprayed, yelled at, punched and kicked. And yes at times its fun, but sometimes for a family man the risk isn't worth the pay.. imo. But if that didn't scare you a way, haha what I would do if I were you is find out where you want to move, get certified through that county or state however they do that because every state/ county is different, then find out the ambulance company that has the 911 contract for that area, then apply with them. I will be moving soon so you can come take my job
/end rant..... ohh b tw good luck! My personal opinion would be check out teaching in emt programs, they make 4 times more than field emts, or specialty emts maybe for search and rescue teams or movie sets, some big ohv areas like glamis and ocotillo wells have ems on rhinos and buggies and get paid very well to offroad and be a real emt or medic!
that live out there someone might be in the business and be able to give me some insight as to the EMS job situation out there.
