DFW area EMS

[Tiff]

I'm still a newbie to this site AND the world of EMT.. I graduate with my AAS - Paramedic in December 2011.. I'm excited, but I'm nervous about finding a job. I am in East Texas right now but as soon as I graduate I will be in the DFW area and was hoping some of you guys could help me learn how to apply to the different companies and wondering which ones require a dual cert. All help is appreciated!

Tiff

[JakeEMTP]

I really have no idea about the DFW area. I think, Dallas is fire-based, but don't quote me.

I just want to congratulate you on getting your degree and not taking the easiest route to the world of EMS.

If I'm not mistaken, I think TX will have you licensed instead of certified for obtaining the degree! That in and of itself is something!

Good job.

Jim

[Tiff]

I really have no idea about the DFW area. I think, Dallas is fire-based, but don't quote me.

I just want to congratulate you on getting your degree and not taking the easiest route to the world of EMS.

If I'm not mistaken, I think TX will have you licensed instead of certified for obtaining the degree! That in and of itself is something!

Good job.

Jim

Thank you Jim, it has been a long road but I am ready to be done. I am nervous to be in the real world, but I guess that is normal. I just pray I retain as much of this as possible!

[Kiwiology]

Dallas Fire Rescue proudly boasts 24 week trained firemedic idiots who do not carry analgesics and if my memory is correct they hold exclusive 911 rights.

Hey, at least they are better than Houston with its 12 week Paramedics

Everything is bigger in Texas, except Paramedic education ... 625 literal clock hours is acceptable.

Edited June 3, 2011 by kiwimedic

[Tiff]

Dallas Fire Rescue proudly boasts 24 week trained firemedic idiots who do not carry analgesics and if my memory is correct they hold exclusive 911 rights.

Hey, at least they are better than Houston with its 12 week Paramedics

Everything is bigger in Texas, except Paramedic education ... 625 literal clock hours is acceptable.

I'm pretty sure they are talking about training from them not a school.. I am in a school, do clinicals and the awful skills testing. Gotta love learning how to intubate a dummy with a fixed little puffy tongue instead of a dummy with a more true to life tongue.. they get their "on the job training" instead of skills lab..

[NYCEMS9115]

http://www.emsjobcenter.com/c/job.cfm?vnet=0&site_id=12090&jb=7807068

[Kiwiology]

I'm pretty sure they are talking about training from them not a school.. I am in a school, do clinicals and the awful skills testing. Gotta love learning how to intubate a dummy with a fixed little puffy tongue instead of a dummy with a more true to life tongue.. they get their "on the job training" instead of skills lab..

Dallas Fire Rescue uses, ironically, the University of Texas Southwestern Health Sciences Centre at Dallas

Houston Fire uses some shady outfit attached to Texas A&M University

[usalsfyre]

Dallas Fire Rescue uses, ironically, the University of Texas Southwestern Health Sciences Centre at Dallas

Houston Fire uses some shady outfit attached to Texas A&M University

Both of them were designed to run the local big FD medics through as quickly as possible. What's ironic is UTSW is obviously at the top of it's game as a med school and TEEX (the A&M attachement) is world renowned for it's fire and techincal rescue training, so both of them could have put together top notch programs but that's not what Dallas and Houston wanted.

To the OP, MedStar is the big non-fire 911 provider in the Metroplex, they're gaining a reputation of being a top notch service after years in the gutter. Careflite has a few 911 contracts, but these are usually filled internally, and you don't see a lot of turnover at Careflite as their employees are extremely well paid and treated. AMR is the lowest paid service, and you pretty much have to statr on the Dallas transfer side to get into ANY of their 911 operation (Hunt County or Arlington EMS). There's a smattering of small 911 services around (Rockwall County east of Dallas, Hood County south of FW, Wise County northwest of FW), as well as the more westward counties of the major east Texas services(Kaufman and Ellis counties for ETMC, Van Zandt, Rains and parts of Wood for Champion). There's also a number of small transfer services around, Lone Star, TLC, ect. For the most part anything with "FD" on the side of it will require at least a TCFP Basic cert as well, the exception being Dallas Fire, they run you through from the ground up (including reattending paramedic school).

I work for one of the east Texas companies, PM me if you want more info, I'll provide what I can.

Edited June 4, 2011 by usalsfyre

[Dustdevil]

Great info from usalsfyre, although I'm not sure I agree that MedStar is building a better reputation. I sure haven't seen it. And the city won't allow it, no matter how hard MedStar tries. But MedStar is indeed probably your best shot at an EMS job in DFW. The schools in this area are cranking out hundreds more medics every year than there are jobs for. The only reason that any of them can ever get a job is because of the high turnover of all the services. Very few people stay with an employer more than a couple of years maximum. And MedStar has a reputation for intentionally running senior employees off, rather than allow them to stay long enough to earn a raise or retire.

Arlington EMS (managed by AMR) indeed pays squat, and is overworked by System Status Management, just like MedStar. But somehow they manage to have relatively stable turnover. Nice equipment. But they are jerked around pretty badly by the firemonkeys, who use AMR as their whipping boys and scapegoats. There's a good relationship among the medics and firemen in the field, but the problem is bad at the management level. Like everywhere these days, the fire chief steals EMS funds for his own budget, then cries like a little bitch about how there aren't enough ambulances. Real genius, he is.

Wise County is county-wide third service and mostly rural. Not as good as they were when they were hospital based, but decent, if political. Only 3 or 4 units, so not a lot of opportunities there. And it's an hour from Fort Worth.

Parker County is also 4-unit county-wide third service, administrated by the hospital. Probably the best service in the area, with good pay. They have a VERY low turnover though since it's such a good gig. They hire medics only, and usually only very experienced ones. You might get lucky and land a part-time gig there.

Johnson County is countywide private service called CareFlite ground. Not impressed. Again, they were a lot better in the hospital based days. Pay is ugh, and as already mentioned, you pretty much only get there by first paying dues as a horizontal taxi driver in Dallas first.

Ellis County is countywide service run by East Texas Medical Centre EMS out of Tyler. I don't know a lot about them, good or bad, even though they're just 20 minutes from me.

Hood County is what Wise County used to be. Nice countywide public service with just a couple or three units. And it too is an hour from FW.

All of those rural services actually provide a very good experience. Don't fall into the trap of believing that only the big city boys get good experience. The rurals here stay busy and run a much higher percentage of serious patients than their counterparts in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington.

Pretty much everything else in the area, with very few exceptions, are fire-based, dual-duty.

Why are you moving to DFW? I ask because, if you are doing so strictly because you think the job market is good here, you are seriously mistaken, so you might reconsider that.

Edited June 5, 2011 by Dustdevil

[usalsfyre]

Dust adds the insight that I don't have about a lot of those services, I can tell you a lot about the majors here in the east, but I'm biased as I've worked for both and very much prefer one to the other. The job market in east Texas is, surprisingly, fairly good. Both large services are hiring for medics and basics. The pay is not great (one of my frustrations is managements refusal to believe being in the same neighborhood pay wise as DFW and Houston will attract better applicants) but its better than many parts of the state. Depending on where you work the experience is as good or better than you'll get in many municipalities. Granted your living in east Texas...but Tyler is not THAT bad. I wouldn't rule it completely out, I'm fairly happy at my service.

Edited June 6, 2011 by usalsfyre