6-10 bucks an hour? I research says untrue..

[scotty2hotty]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but according to these links I can average 25K-28K per year. This sounds a lot more then 6-10 hours per hour. The first link is from the company thats trainng me. I guess the salary wages are higher from where I live?

EMT wages for Ann Arbor, MI

Ann Arbor, MI Huron Valley Ambulance

[Dustdevil]

The number one question you have to answer is, "can I get that job?"

Yes, hospital based EMS systems tend to pay well. But positions with hospital based EMS systems for basic EMT's are limited, as compared to the glut of candidates. It's simple supply and demand. If you can't get that job, then how much they pay is irrelevant. The great majority of basic EMT jobs are with private, non-emergency providers whose payscales are not even remotely similar to the one at that agency.

As for the salary wizard, I would suspect that all EMS providers - including paramedics - are lumped into a single category, and it isn't a chart specifically for brand new basic EMT's.

Again, get on the phone!! Find out ALL the providers in your area. Call ALL of them for wage quotes. Call ALL of them to ask if they even hire new basics. Call ALL of them to find out if they even provide EMS service. Find out how many EMT schools are in your hear and how many hundreds of basics they are cranking out to your community every year to compete with you for a job. You may be pleasantly surprised and find out that there is a serious shortage, and that you are guaranteed $30k (half of what a new grad nurse makes with 2 years of school) job on an emergency ambulance the day you graduate. If so, great! But more than likely, you are going to find out that the supply of 120-hour night-school basics in your area is endless, and that the best you will get is a job as an ambulance driver for a non-emergency transfer provider company paying much less than $10 dollars an hour.

[The Hook]

Your name to the left of the screen says only newbie. If you are a basic then I agree your chances of landing a well paying job are pretty slim. EMT-I gets a little better. The money, however, gets quite a bit better with Paramedic. Yes it's an additional 1-2 years of school (depending of state) but the pay tends to be worth it.

To give you an example, here in GA we do not recognize EMT-B's. They are specifically ambulance drivers, nothing more. They drive the wheel chair vans to get the elderly and disabled to their doctor appointments. Still an important job, it still needs to be done. However there is no PT care involved. EMT-I's start off around $9-$12hr for a good private service. EMT-P's start at $12hr and go as high as $22hr depending on the level of expertise and years of experience.

Keep going to school! That's my advice. Still, you need more than one reason to advance your level of training. About 1/2 way through you start to hate the reason you started this. Have many well thought out reasons for going. You must have a passion for the job, plain and simple. If you don't, you will either fail or be a lousy medic.

On that note, good luck!

Kevin J Hook

[scotty2hotty]

wow, so much great feeback from you guys, thanks so much! I'm definetly looking into everything you all said. You've definetly shed some new light on me. thanks again!

[Ridryder 911]

You are right $ 5-10 hr... is not $25K at the normal 40 hr work week. So figure you are going to work at least 48 to 72 hrs a week. There are only 1 service in my state that works 8 hr shifts. Most are at the minimum 12 hr and the other 80% work 24 hr shifts.

So this is where it gets confusing.. some pay for full 24 hr (no they don't have to pay the full 24) some pay up to a certain amount then overtime. It is as clear as mud.. but, be sure you understand it before.. & if you get hired on.

Like others describe.. the job market is over-flooded, we have people doing for free, so locating a entry point is hard sometimes.

Good luck,

R/R 911

[PRPGfirerescuetech]

Basic pay is variant on region, how the system is set up, and how your basics are utilized. Look towards the Northeast, and Deep southwest for the higher paying systems, and any area around a major city. Otherwise, look towards industrial work, the oil drilling industry (they are hiring basics more and more these days) and event companies.

Good luck. Keep expanding your education, ride as much as you can, and volunteer until you build up your reputation as one on the "non-Retard" list.

PRPG

[emtek]

Well here's my take on it. I am a newly graduated EMT-B, and I am one of 10,900+ certified EMT-B's in the state of Colorado. I am having a hell of a time finding a job. So I have had to look into other things because I can't be accepted into Paramedic school until I have worked as a basic for two years, and the way things look I won't be finding a job for awhile. As far as pay goes, on of my instructors has been a EMT-I for the past 15 years, she has no desire to become a medic, and she makes about $11.oo an hour. So yes the pay sucks.

[Freshmeat]

In AZ you cannot get accepted into any Medic School without 1,000 hrs of EMT-B experiance. The schools do not take this lightly and there isnt really a way around it. So....no joby means no further education in EMS.