how it all works in canada

[rock_shoes]

As has already been mentioned you should avoid BC for the time being. Your best bets will be Alberta, Saskatchewan, and possibly Nova Scotia. Depending on your current training it may be possible to have some of your past education recognized. That will all depend on the whim of your chosen province's regulatory body. If you want to try and come to BC anyway let me know and I'll help hold up the hoops for you to jump through.

[aussiephil]

They work in Canada?

[jjslinkey]

cheers lads! plenty of excellent info, thanks again. I,m hoping my experience will stand with me as well. so far i have been a rescue tech for 7 years, ambulance tech for 5 years, spent two years in the medical battalion of the Reserve Defence Forces (still serving), I'm a search tech and leader, and just started on the medical boat. just sent a few schools A E-MAIL with my clinical practice guidelines to see where my qualifications stand over.

[Siffaliss]

getting your qualifications in alberta wont be too difficult.

I'd stay away from BC right now, they're striking and have many interesting labour issues going on right now.... hoping that some of the benefits will flow over the border to alberta since the province just took over the majority of services here... and if you are registered in alberta, i believe that can land you a job in saskatchewan....

anyways, there's still a tonne of jobs out here. decide where abouts you want to live/start... then start looking for schools in the area. edmonton and calgary are the 2 major cities, and both offer many schools in and around them. you will need to start with your EMR - emergency medical responder. if you have an equivalent experience/registration from ireland, check with the Alberta College of Paramedics to see if you are able to challenge the provincial registration. an EMR certificate can get you an industrial job. from there you can make the $$ (if you don't have it saved or it gets all used up in the move) to then go and do your EMT-A. with emt certification you can then get an ambulance job from some of the many places that are still hiring. http://www.collegeofparamedics.org/pages/home/default.aspx is the governing college website here, should be helpful for you. there's also a page just on job advertisement.

Freak is correct pretty much all the way through here ... thing is, with the province taking over funding and everything else now for EMS, a lot of people are looking at leaving. It didn't work in BC (as we can see), it won't work here long term either.

They work in Canada?

Yes, and our trucks aren't modified kangaroos with dingos and didgeridoos for sirens

Edited September 15, 2009 by Siffaliss

[tniuqs]

Freak is correct pretty much all the way through here ... thing is, with the province taking over funding and everything else now for EMS, a lot of people are looking at leaving. It didn't work in BC (as we can see), it won't work here long term either.

Yes, and our trucks aren't modified kangaroos with dingos and didgeridoos for sirens

Siff I believe you forgot the Camels ?

Agreed the province taking over in AB has put a relative hiring freeze in place, I would suggest with your background that you explore the safety aspect of the oil patch and far more lucrative giving yourself more options and a means to make the cash to advance and deal with the regulatory body we have come to love.

cheers

[Siffaliss]

Siff I believe you forgot the Camels ?

Agreed the province taking over in AB has put a relative hiring freeze in place, I would suggest with your background that you explore the safety aspect of the oil patch and far more lucrative giving yourself more options and a means to make the cash to advance and deal with the regulatory body we have come to love.

cheers

I think camels are Egyptian aren't they? Or Saudi Arabian? Dunno ... don't think they're Aussie. Whatever.

[tniuqs]

I think camels are Egyptian aren't they? Or Saudi Arabian? Dunno ... don't think they're Aussie. Whatever.

Best check again the OZ imported every dang critter they could find wandering about to drink with

[JPRN]

Unfortunately Mobey's pretty bang on, which sucks for you. Ontario has the best Primary Care Paramedic (BLS) education in the country. It's incredibly competetive to get in: there were more than five hundred applications for 45 spots in my PCP class, of those 23 graduated two years later and maybe 50-75% are employed and of those almost everyone is working part-time until they have seniority to move into a full time spot. The flipside though, is that Ontario has a strong, entirely third service EMS system, with excellent education and very very good compensation.

You could always come to Ontario for the PCP schooling and move to Alberta where EMS jobs remain plentiful.

Now you mentioned Ambutrans and Toronto. I'm not sure if you're aware, but the IFT industry in Canada and Ontario in particular is a fucking joke. There are very few "good" IFT companies out there. Most take old retired ambulances and staff them with underpaid PCP students, grads who can't get hired, or first aid trained attendents. You have no medical interaction with the patients you are transporting as they must be stable, non-urgent patients or else they are transported by EMS or ORNGE (air ambulance service). Ambutrans, Ontario Patient Transfer, etc are not EMS, they are just horizontal taxi services. Not that the public can tell the difference half the time. Pay for these companies is usually low, around a third of what I make in EMS and there are usually no benefits.

There are tonnes of Canadians on the board who can help you out from all areas of the country. We've got Mobey and Squint representing Alberta, Happiness holding the fort on BC, ArcticKat on Saskatchewan, umm... I don't who's in Manitoba, I'm in Ontario, screw Quebec , OwleyMedic is out east. Just let us know what else you're looking for.

Cheers,

- Matt

I do agree with most of what you are saying except for the part that involves Ambu Trans. Not all the people employed with them are as uneducated and non qualified as you say as well as the benefits comment is untrue as well . I am employed with them and as for the non qualified part; I am a registered nurse who just so happens to be in a very bad financial situation and I need the extra work where ever I can get it. There are numerous individuals in the same predicament as me working at Ambu Trans , many are actually Certified Paramedics who were forced into retirement, single parents who need extra income, licensed physicians from other countries waiting to take exams for Ontario , nurses, etc. so to say that we aren't educated is not only false but very upsetting. The Paremedic course is only 2 years I spent 4 years for my RN and an extra 2 for my B.a. Yes the Paramedic course is specialized but I believe that many of us are more than qualified to do simple patient transfers for non emergency patients . We never claimed to be paramedics anyways. We understand our role in the healthcare industry so we are not as bad as many portray us to be. If I had the option of nursing full time and leaving AmbuTrans trust me I would however I am not that fortunate. Also the comment of the benefits is also untrue we have a very good benefit plan payed 100% by Ambu Trans to Manulife Insurance.

[Arctickat]

Just to throw in my 2 cents, here is a link with information on how International practitioners can register in Saskatchewan.

http://www.collegeofparamedics.sk.ca/Word_Docs/FQR%20paramedics_process%20map%20final.pdf

[BEorP]

They work in Canada?

Ever seen an igloo collapse? That is some crazy stuff.

I do agree with most of what you are saying except for the part that involves Ambu Trans. Not all the people employed with them are as uneducated and non qualified as you say as well as the benefits comment is untrue as well . I am employed with them and as for the non qualified part; I am a registered nurse who just so happens to be in a very bad financial situation and I need the extra work where ever I can get it. There are numerous individuals in the same predicament as me working at Ambu Trans , many are actually Certified Paramedics who were forced into retirement, single parents who need extra income, licensed physicians from other countries waiting to take exams for Ontario , nurses, etc. so to say that we aren't educated is not only false but very upsetting. The Paremedic course is only 2 years I spent 4 years for my RN and an extra 2 for my B.a. Yes the Paramedic course is specialized but I believe that many of us are more than qualified to do simple patient transfers for non emergency patients . We never claimed to be paramedics anyways. We understand our role in the healthcare industry so we are not as bad as many portray us to be. If I had the option of nursing full time and leaving AmbuTrans trust me I would however I am not that fortunate. Also the comment of the benefits is also untrue we have a very good benefit plan payed 100% by Ambu Trans to Manulife Insurance.

You would be the exception to the rule then.

And even in your situation, many people would wonder why (given your education and the availability of RN jobs) you're working for $12 an hour doing a job along side people with a 40 hour course.

The fact remains though for the OP's purposes that the patient transfer companies in Ontario are not part of the EMS system and are not where he should be looking for employment.