Fellow medic wrote on November 14, 2008 08:35 AM: I love being a Paramedic. It’s something that I am very proud of. To become an EMT or a Paramedic (Not ambulance drivers) is a task that doesn’t come easy. The schooling itself is rough enough and then you must complete a field internship. Once you make it and you proudly wear the Paramedic patch, you run from call to call and are very happy to do the job. We, the non tax based private ambulance companies Medic west and AMR who just happen to be sister companies owned by EMSC, work very hard to provide the public with the care that they need. I am employed by Medic west. It’s not a bad place to work but it could be a whole lot better. As a matter of fact, just a few years ago, it was an amazing place to work. But, as all good things must come to an end, EMSC bought out medic west. So here we are. I don’t think that the general public understands what kind of company that we work for. We are under paid, over worked. MWA (Medic West Ambulance) isn’t union, yet. We are working on that. Please understand that facts before you give your much respected opinion. Understand that we are men and women who risk our lives and are always in harms way. We are unrestrained in the back of moving ambulances, we are working on people who have be in traumas or are having a medical emergency and could possible have HIV, Hep C, TB or many other conditions that could be contracted by one of us. We have families and don’t want to take that home to them. The average EMT basic makes 8 bucks an hour, the average EMT-I, 10 bucks and paramedic….15 to 16 bucks an hour. Some make more, but in most cases, not much more. All three levels are trained to save your life. So, please think about our risks, our sacrifices that we make on a daily basis and support your non-tax based emergency workers. Call AMR and ask them to come back to the table and talk.

Huh? wrote on November 14, 2008 07:10 AM: AMR needs time to install the spy cams like they did in Connecticut.

Google search "hartford courant" & hidden camera and follow the links.

AMR Needs Time wrote on November 14, 2008 07:06 AM: AMR is delaying work because they have not finished installing the spying devices.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-whdbugs1103.artnov03,0,7347058.story

Hold On wrote on November 14, 2008 07:02 AM: Hold on, working 48 hours is safe while 72 hours is unsafe? When is the last time you saw someone awake for 48 hours and how did they act?

Huh? wrote on November 13, 2008 11:43 PM: To someone who knows:
Perhaps on a majority of calls you may need more than one medic to run a chest pain call, but where I came from, that was rare. Delay patient care? Well if you want to go down that road, why don't we just put a doc on each rig? Money and effeciency, thats why. You don't have two separate rigs and medics go to every call because it might get complicated and you might need extra hands. Of course with the complicated and profit motivated system in Las Vegas, effeciencey and reality take a back seat to realistic medicine.

John Q Public wrote on November 13, 2008 10:48 PM: 30 min drop policy is a sham, sure you and majority of other medics use it to get out of the hospital, sometimes without ensuring that the patient is getting definitive care. Yes your right, county does NOT transport but city sure does and if Don Earl gets there before you, then it becomes his call. As to being the only medic there, working alone and being able to be comfortable alone does not mean you EGO is huge, it means that you don't require a fire medic to get in your way and disagree and override you because he can't think outside the box. You go anywhere else and its only one set of paramedics be it fire or private and the respective responding counterpart is EMT's. There are issues here between fire medics and privates, the same is true for the greater phoenix metro where Southwest runs with various agencies down there and they have major animosity issues as well. Northern Cali or Northern Az, it's the private EMS medics who run the show and RARELY do you find fire medics on engines. Vegas needs to choose, private medics or public medics, the mix of the two bodes problems. The monopoly issue makes up for all private EMS is now consolidated by EMSC. They do not allow others to bid or even think about transporting code 2 patients in the franchise zone. THAT IS THE MONOPOLY. Take off the rose colored glasses and wake up to the real world, AMR screws employees, Fire screws private EMS. We wouldn't be so short if ILS ran bravos and alphas and RN's ran some charlies and deltas, that and the compliance issues without allowing for time delays is where FIRE screws private.

Jim wrote on November 13, 2008 09:15 PM: NY Times is ALWAYS beleivable, right...
I think they are way off base on the average GM salary by about 1/2. Every search I have done has proved them wrong. Google Average GM salary and there is an article from NPR comparing GM vs Toyota. You can see why American auto Builders are failing, we allow it to happen and the unions price folks out of a job. Pay and benefits per hour are in excess of $100K annually. About 4 times the salary of those buying the product.

someone who knows wrote on November 13, 2008 09:12 PM: We have a 30 min drop policy in this town first off that the fire department is more than happy to comply with. Second, we still have 300 employees that are willing to work and im pretty sure that on a daily basis we dont have 300 of them work anyways. FD will not find the need to transport anymore than usual. As far as FD picking and choosing, its in our contract that city fire can transport, county CAN NOT TAKE CALLS FROM US, if we show up on scene first we get to do whatever we choose to do, its medics that are easy push overs that let FD take patients from them. And if you're a medic who thinks that only your hands are needed on a call then you looking out for your ego not the patient. And it cant be a monopoly since fire transports for profit. Im no slave on scene I have all the respect I need, more times than not FD rides with me. As for HUH? thats some pt advocacy delaying pt care for your neighbors to get to you as where we have them ready at our disposal. And in real fire department cities our ladders ore closer to 1million dollars and rescues are 250plus, have a nice day

Huh? wrote on November 13, 2008 08:00 PM: I was in the largest volunteer EMS system in the world in NY for 10 years. We didn't have two separate medics show up at scenes. We NEVER found a use for a ladder truck at a chest pain call, nor anyone who could explain the logic behind taking a 1/2 million dollar rig our for such a call. When we needed help, we put a call out and the neighboring medics showed up. Crazy way to do things, huh?

John Q Public wrote on November 13, 2008 07:20 PM: Look man, I work in this town as well, LVFR can tranport but They do not have anywhere near enough rescues to do it since others will be tied up waiting at the hospital. CCFD can transport but absolutely refuse to even if the patient is in extremis, they would rather wait for AMR or MW. It will probably be more than 50 or 60 because the rest are afraid of John Wilson and the various idiotic supervisors. Yes you are right, Medic 1 is the most progressive in the states. LAZY paramedics are the ones who rely on more than one set of hands to help with criticals, others in the nation can do their basic stuff alone with EMT and still be transporting in under 8 minutes of scene time. The monopoly will come to an end eventually if it's now or later, AMR will lose out. Yes 90% of calls are EMS, but when fire is to lazy to transport, then why have them around. They only take over calls when someone gets shot and order you to get in the back of their rescue to transport making you their slave for the call. What a way to go huh?

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