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why...? Because if you're planning to stay in NYC, the future seems to be FDNY. And there ARE changes being done, however slow. It's about the standard of care, and the the standards for the dept. From someone who has worked for privates, voluntaries, voluntaries which CLOSED, I can tell you that security and experience, and training lies with FDNY. As for the $$, well... still working on it. That's why I'm looking to becoming a medic/hosemonkey out west. NYC's a busy place with lots of experience to be had.

I don't know to much about what the rules of dispatching are, but coming from the other end... I'll take a stab at it. The computer recommends units based on distance, priority, and availability. At times all units within a region, even a entire borough can be "busy." Manhattan is split between, South, Central, and North. Bronx units get sent to Manhattan North, Queens to Central, and Brooklyn to South all the time b/c of the high call volume in Manhattan. Now Staten Island would generally be closest to the South. If all Manhattan units were busy at the time; all units bordering Manhattan in their respective boroughs were ALSO busy, than there would be a possibility of a ridiculously long response time. Now here lies the problem. If a closer unit becomes available seconds after the job has been given out, I've noticed that the dispatcher does not always catch it. He/she may choose NOT to reassign the job, instead giving the available unit yet another job. Seeing that the recent weeks have been extremely busy, this may have been the case. Last Thursday I happened to be doing some BLS overtime in Midtown Manhattan. If I remember right, I heard the SI crew go over the air several times stating their location, the fact that they were in bumper to bumper traffic in SI. The unit tried to refuse the job, stating that there was no way they could make it to midtown in a sufficient time. They had been refusing to press their "63 enroute" button. A few moments later, I heard a LT or CPT go on the air and basically say that if the unit refuses, put them out admin and send them back to their station. The crew ended up responding to the call since I didn't hear anything from the dispatcher. That same week I was in downtown Manhattan around 16th street on the east side. I was dispatched to 98th street on the west side for the Cardiac Arrest. Dispatch was notified of my location and it was documented, but we continued in. The BLS, ended up transporting the pt on their own b/c of our asinine distance at the time. Yet there were several ALS units that became available as I fought my way uptown. Can we question dispatch? Not really.

http://www.rootv.com/?channel=Fox+News+Loc...amp;bitrate=300 Was it documentation error or negligence? Either way it looks ugly for us.

I was there a month ago. Primary BLS 911 coverage for those areas are held by Care Ambulance, and Mccormick. As for experience, bls continues to be supervised by FD ALS, and the pay is less than meager. Move or go FD. >.<

hehe, you're making me have second thoughts here. Starting to fit the stereotype of the gun-slinging state. Everybody's packing eh?

Thanks for the low-down dust. I'll be looking into some of the protocols to take a glimpse at what kind of backwards medical thinking you were talking about. The way you were speaking about their EMS, it seems as if it's a completely separate division. I was reading on their website, (and I'll be asking more about it when I visit Houston in 2 weeks to take the entrance exam) it says that all their medics are cross trained as FF's. Do you know if they perform both job duties on a rotational schedule. Because that's the stick to it. I may have a new interest in suppression/rescue but there's no way I could give up the EMS side. As for $$$ I'll have to experience some of the city for myself... When you mention professional opportunities, what kind of things are you thinking about?

thanks for the info. I'm looking to become a fire-medic. (Fire suppression is a new interest...) I'm working as a medic in NYC right now. Pay as a fire trainee with HFD is on the low side. (Although I realize the cost of living in Houston is much lower than where I am now) I was thinking I might be able to pick up some medic tours with a private while in the academy. Then again, I'm also debating whether HFD is the place to be. I'm hoping someone here would be able to shed some light.

I'm doing some looking into with EMS in Houston, Texas. If anyone works in the area, pls let me know as I've got some questions. Has anyone worked with the Houston FD? What are the private 911 contracts (company names) over there? and also, what is the pay like for the privates? (Paramedic).

I've been seeing this one question coming up more often over the past years. Describe a situation when you have gone above and beyond your call of duty. How would you answer this question? Even if you have some pretty nifty war story's, they're still a sense part of our job description. What "amazing" feat might you describe? Not everyone has run out of a burning building with a baby... I'm curious as to what interviewers are looking for.

Looking for some input on these private company's in the LA area. These three plus AMR seem to be the big ones that were able to snag 911 contracts - (BLS I believe) I'm a medic, but I guess I'm looking for something temporary even if it's IFT until I can get into FD. Anyone know or work for any of them? I suppose I'm applying to a few to see how much $$$ they'll pay. Schaefer looks like a smaller gig - correct me if I'm wrong. I'm interested in standby events to.

This is for all you LA "EMS'ers" out there. Where can I find up to date protocols, BLS and ALS ?! The dept of health of LA county offers some protocols, but their last update was in 2002. Not only that, but I can't seem to find any medical control options. All I can see are standing orders. Shouldn't the medical control options shortly follow the standing orders on each protocol? My google search is stumped. Here is the DOH LA County website with the list of "protocols." http://dhs.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/c...C502DJNGGVS2094 Educate me if I'm looking for something that doesn't exist. Are all medical control options discretionary, and is telemetry contact a more frequent occurrence? My experience with EMS outside of New York City is minimal, and I currently operate under nyc regional protocols that can be found here : http://www.nycremsco.org/ I thought I'd do some reading up on protocols while my reciprocity in Cali was in motion.

hey Anthony, would you happen to know the hourly AMR rate for Medics?

Anyone work for AMR in california? I would like to know what the hourly rate for a paramedic is over there (with approx 1 year of experience.) Update from last post (LA EMS) I'm moving to LA to continue school but would need a temporary job. (I'll accept working transport again :shock: ) BUT. I did once upon a time work for AMR in NYC. I'm trying to decide whether the next 6 months I should return to AMR here in NYC (To do transport )so that I can transfer over to cali with the same wage. (Which may be more than what cali AMR medics are making) Before I dump one of my 911 gigs to go back to transport, I'd like to see if the wages compare. Otherwise I'll just finish working 911 here and go in as a new Hire over in California. (situation seems to get more complex every day...)

By P.A. I had meant physician assistant. So curious... If all/most of ALS is run my Fire, whom is staffed by firefighters/paramedics, do they just rotate shifts on EMS and fire...? It's perceptible having a EMS division of fire, but requiring their paramedics to be firefighters is... well, what.. total crap? Putting together 2 completely different professions... I guess the overall picture is, I need to become a firefighter to work 911 ALS in LA. And as most FD go, they want full time commitment and have schedules that don't mesh well with a second job or school. :evil: