emergency medical technician

paramedic

registered nurse - critical care

driver

operations supervisor

Lifecare Medical Transports

LifeCare Medical Transports is an embarrassment to the EMS community. May I count the ways?

The trucks are filthy and poorly maintained. 
Every time you step on a unit you wonder if it had been cleaned at all since it’s original purchase over 15 years prior. There is no wash station so they’re literally coated in exhaust residue that’s built up over years. The cracks and crevices inside are black with dust and chunks of hair and debris. There’s trash and sheets from 3 crews ago strewn across the floor. The AC is blowing hot air on a 99 degree day. The check engine light has been on for the last 5k miles. The trucks will randomly disappear to go to the main station for “maintenance” and return in the exact same condition. 

The equipment is expired, broken, or nonexistent.
All of your supplies are in poorly sealed plastic bags that were made more than 2 years ago. The only medication you have is oral glucose and it expired last year. You are not provided with a pulse oximeter. You might have a stethoscope. The Philip’s AEDs are equipped with life pack defibrillator pads. The stair chairs are heavy and never work. The power stretchers for not have chargers. The glucometers have never been QC tested even once. Half the radios do not have functioning hotspots and you are not provided a device to complete your ePCRs. 

The management is lazy, verbally abusive, or deceitful.
There have been several good managers but they get abused by corporate to the point of insanity and then quit within months. The ones who stick around are either part of the old boys club or have no other aspirations in life but to yell at subordinates for making reasonable requests. Everything will always be blamed on the EMTs. If you do not get in service within 5 minutes of your shift you’ll get an angry phone call from the Fredericksburg office. If you’re late to a call you’ll get written up. If you refuse a call you’ll get written up. They will give you one N95 to use for months on end. They will yell at you for cooling off at the station when you’re showing heat stroke symptoms. They do not care about your well-being. They only care about getting that bottom line. 

 The dispatch center is manipulative, uncaring, and poorly run. 
The dispatchers are forced to assign out every call on their screen. Even if it means giving you two pickups  scheduled 5 minutes apart. They will give you immediate calls while you are starting an IFT and then yell at you for being late. They will try to give you a call with 15 minutes left on your shift and 5 other units idling. If you refuse a call they will threaten your license, a write up, and anything they can. They will try to make people without EVOC drive unsafe units. They will not call PD assistance if your ambulance is in a collision and will still try to make you run another call. 

The call center is full of untrained liars. 
They will take literally any call and make up a Cheif complaint to get the payout. They will always give an eta for 60-90 minutes even when the closest unit is 3 hours away and on another call. They will continue to take calls and give that same eta even when there are only 4 crews who are already stacked with 10 calls on a 10 hour shift. If a nursing home calls for a serious emergency and the call taker tells them to call 911 instead that call taker will be fired in a matter of minutes. 

Coworkers are either awesome or so incompetent you fear for your life. 
This company will put a fresh out of school EMT on a unit with a driver who has no medical experience whatsoever. The EMTs who have been there forever either have a criminal record or absolutely no desire to amour to anything better. Anyone who is worth something will stay for a year average before flipping a double bird and bouncing. 

Training is nonexistent. 
The FTO shift is one day. You’d be lucky to get two. If you need a CPR recertification they’ll ask you if you know what to do and then hand you a card that they had filled out and filed before you even walked in the door. You will not get a single CEU unless you go seek it elsewhere.

PTO and pay in general is a joke. 
You are given the equivalent of a week of paid personal time over the course of a year. This is used any time you call out sick. You are given paid vacation Of about the same amount. This can’t be used for a year. Time off requests are rarely approved. If they are, they will try to not pay you. They will try to give you the wrong pay rate and hope you don’t notice. They will make every excuse to not pay you OT. If they owe you back pay it will be 6 months before you see it, if you ever do. 

Moral of the story: Run away as fast as you can. If the white uniform shirts weren’t a big enough red flag I hope this novel is. 

I was hired back in June of 2015 for their EMT-Basic position, and spent about 2 months there if that says anything. A few red flags that I ignored was their desperation to hire someone with a pulse. Within a few hours of applying, I received a phone call by the manager who was more than eager to set up an interview ASAP. The day of the interview, I arrived 15 minutes early and proceeded toward the building. When I got there, the doors were locked, lights were off, and no one inside. I patiently waited until the time of the interview and no one showed up. I ended up calling the manager who "forgot" and rushed over from across the parking lot as he stuffed his face and he proceeded to unlock the building to set up an area for the interview. During the interview, he showed little interest in me or my experience and rushed through it. It was then that I found out I had applied for their part-time position. When I apologized for wasting his time because I was looking for a full-time position, he assured me that although he couldn't guarantee 40 hours/week, he could guarantee 36. I needed the money and wanted the experience, so I took the job. I was provided with 40 hours for two weeks, and then cut down to 17 hours. When I confronted the manager about the issue, he replied that there wasn't any demand so hours had to be cut. Since I was a basic life support provider, I was not seen as worthy or valuable to the company.

Orientation was roughly 2 weeks and rushed. After I gave my notice to my previous job and began my first day, I was forced to sign a contract that stated I would not work within 50 miles of the company. The contract had to be signed or I would lose the job. Since I no longer had my other job, I had to sign even though Virginia is a right-to-work state. I was given an old, previously worn uniform. I was placed on trucks with broken, expired, or missing equipment. We were told to do with what we had. We were given bariatric patients without assists, we were forced to place bariatric patients on narrow (normal sized) gurneys, and forced to place bariatric patients in vans with bariatric stretchers if one was available. They turned a blind eye to patient abandonment by reinforcing the use of spotters; they expected the attendant with the patient to jump out of the vehicle (leaving the patient alone) to help spot the driver instead of just communicating with the driver from the patient compartment. 

During my few months there I was s*xually harassed, harassed, intimidated, and continually lied to by management. Coworkers were adults but acted like middle school children. They would take pictures of me as a joke and constantly pried into my life on social media in an attempt to discover my s*xual orientation. They went so far as to take pictures of me to the local g** bar to see if I was g**. This was revealed to me by a coworker on my last day who just needed to know my s*xual orientation. When I notified the district manager about the behavior and harassment I experienced, I was told they would talk to the coworker who I was working with, but they could do nothing else since I did not know the coworker's name who had taken pictures of me even though I could describe her, and they couldn't do anything with the coworker who brought the pictures to the bar since he had put his 2-weeks notice in. When I had placed my 2-week notice because I couldn't survive off of 17 hours a week, the district manager brought up the contract I had signed and said I couldn't leave to work for another transport company. Due to issues I had been experiencing such as reduced hours, low call volume, and broken promises, an exception was made.

The best decision I ever made was leaving that company. I do not recommend this company to anyone.

Working at LifeCare I had the ability to work, arguably, the best job I've ever had, but under some of the worst conditions imaginable. 

I've been in situations where management, management's management, and even their management know that we don't have functioning equipment or vehicles, and yet we'll still be sent on an improper call. 

I've been cursed out by management for NOT committing Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The management likes for us to document whatever is necessary in order to justify a call. Because this is a private organization, the patient's are put secondary, and the money is put as a priority. 

We've been out in the dead of winter without heat for the EMTs and no heat for the patient in the back. We've also been in the heat of summer without A/C in the back for the patient and/or without A/C in the front for the EMTs/Medics. 

No matter how many times you follow protocol and fill out paperwork properly, the job will ultimately have to be done in substandard conditions using subpar/broken equipment. 

I've worked multiple shifts where I have been on the clock for over 20 hours, when I was only supposed to work 12 hours. They also don't like to pay out overtime, so management blames the EMTs for the call volume, causing us to work overtime. 

I made plenty of good friends working for this organization, mostly because we had to endure the terrible working environment together. I've also been cursed out by management, and was expected to simply keep doing my job. I was threatened to be fired over the corporate office losing 1,000s of patient records. Lifecare got audited back in 2017 or 2018 and they lost all of the paperwork due to the terrible digital filing system they purchased and put in place (even though we complained about it 100s of times). Because of this we were forced to "re-create" 100s (if not 1,000s) of documents from the year 2015 up to 2017/2018 in order to give the perception of the corporate office having a back-up system in place.

Our corporate office's back-up system is called "fraud". I'm glad I don't work here anymore, they threatened myself and other employees on countless occasions, and got away with it, because truthfully we are just numbers. There are plenty of other EMTs who will work for less money, and just do what corporate tells them to do without questioning it.

Basically, work here if you're ok with committing fraud at least twice per shift, and if you're ok with your supervisors cursing you out when you try to do the right thing and actually care about your patients.

As long as you have a pulse and a somewhat acceptable driving record, or a state EMT-B certification, you will be guaranteed a job. For someone with zero experience, this can be a decent place to learn how to use stretchers, lay out of ambulances, navigating healthcare facilities and learning about various medical conditions. Unfortunately, training is basically non-existent. You have one "training" shift where you follow a crew around for a day. For me, it was more of a ride along. I didn't get to do anything, I was not taught anything. When I came in, the supervisor was like "Ok, when you come in you check out the truck and make sure it has everything and if it doesn't you have to go to the station and stock up." That was about the most useful information on my training shift. What is required on the truck? Where is the station? Are there inventory logs? How do I start an ePCR? They didn't want to put any effort into actually training me, and this was a captain and sergeant doing my training shift. 

Like others have said, they don't care about your personal life. You have to stay late and run calls, even if there is an important event like a funeral or your mom's birthday dinner or whatever. They tell you "Well, this is EMS, what do you expect?" No, this is not EMS. This is EMS capable medical transport. Calls are rarely medical emergencies, and if they are, the poor guy at the nursing home had a stroke 8 hours ago and is still waiting for a ride to the ER with an incompetent BLS crew, too far past the point of meaningful recovery. 

One of my biggest gripes as far as being moderately happy while on the job was the uniforms. If we just had comfortable uniforms, employee morale would improve exponentially. The fact that we have to buy our shirts (which LC makes a profit on, by selling it to you for nearly $30 a shirt), and that they are horribly uncomfortable and ugly. 

The pay was better than competitors, but those competitors have caught up in that area and they have better equipment and no dialysis runs, so people are going there in droves.

LifeCare could be a great place to work, but management clearly does not care. Employees are nothing more than worker bees and if you don't like it, you can leave, since they will replace you within a couple days with a brand new 18 year old EMT fresh out of school.

Steady pay, but they're constantly trying to screw you every check. You personally have to keep track of all your breaks and hours, and then "disapprove" your time card every pay period, because they will automatically take out whatever hours you don't claim. I say automatically because you will never get a break. They say each work shift is 13 hours, but fully expect every shift to be 15-17. Extremely toxic work environment. The people you work with however are typically pretty incredible. If you're on a truck, I could not give higher praise to a great majority of these partners you will get to run with. Sadly, management is often hostile and only looking out for themselves and the bottom line. Safety often comes second. Honestly, I could go on and on. My second shift ever with the company, my new partner spent the first 3 hours going over how bad LifeCare was. I thought he was making it up. Oh how naive I was. I guess one last thing is that management is constantly be turned over, and you can make a good chunk of money, but only by selling your soul. LifeCare's MO appears to only promote the last person anyone wants promoted. And once you are promoted, you'll be salary. Which means you could work 5 days and only get paid for 3. 26-30 extra hours with no difference in your paycheck. 

But to be totally honest, I genuinely loved the work itself and the people I got to work with. It was just the behind the scenes stuff that was just nightmarish. I believe the biggest issue was being constantly short staffed. If LifeCare properly manned each region, and didn't make people stay hours late every single shift, and didn't run people into the ground every single shift, then this would have been a much more positive review. I only had a handful of bad partners. Everyone else were just amazing, and I grew very close with many of them. Plus, you will have some calls where a patient stays at a doctor's appointment for 3-5 hours and they can't get off your stretcher.. so you just hang out for 3-5 hours. That's the best part.

I worked at lifecare 6 years ago at this point and from what I have heard it hasnt changed. 

If you have recently gotten your Cert then work here for a few months then move on. You will never get off on time. they will hold you past your off time for several hours. This isnt a one off thing. It happens consistently every shift.

Management, especially upper management, just views you as meat in the seat and your only use to them is to make them money. They really couldnt care about anything you do as long as you write your reports so they can bill a patient's insurance. 

Dispatch used to have a huge attitude problem. Not sure if has gotten fixed since it was only a few dispatchers. Dispatch couldnt care less about the units well being. You will be given a 150 mile transport with your fuel tank on empty, zero breaks for the day, with one minute left in your shift yet there will be a fresh unit just starting their shift. When questioned about their decision they would throw a temper tantrum and call the supervisor. 

Wages are incredibly non competitive for the region.

Companies like Lifecare prey on new EMTs because they are willing and excited to work in EMS and often times this is the only job they can get due to lack of experience. With a steady of influx of new providers graduating across Virginia every few months it is easy for them to find replacements when the employees they do have quit after 3 months. This cycle means that there is no reason for companies like this to change. 

If you are a new provider then the best piece of advice I could ever give you is to steer clear of any for profit healthcare company.

Greet the supervisor of the day (constant turnover), clean vehicle or work station, thouroughly check out vehicle (always broke even immediatley after return from being fixed at headquarters), check over my planned call sheet for my area (if in dispatch) and work out any errors (calls that couldn't possibly be gotten to in time).  I learned not to trust anything until I had check it out myself fully and if something was broken and "fixed" three or more times it probably wasn't really fixable.  Lower management was generally honest and fair, if brand new to management, leading to everyone helping out and a constant turnover of management.  Bills not always being paid led to station turnover.  My immediate Northern Virginia co-workers were hard working and had a very high number of calls run to number of personnel and many letters written to the company on our care and attention to detail. The hardest part of the job was having things constantly break on us, brakes, lights, ventilators, you name it.  The most enjoyable part of the job was being in the ambulance and having direct patient care and knowing that people got home safe and were turned over properly so as not to have any immediate problems.  I ran Christmas Eve every year while I was on the ambulance just getting people home. And in dispatch at the Holidays double checking and reorganizing the schedules when people forgot to call in changes that I knew were likely and avoiding unnecessary missed procedures gave me a purpose and made my day complete.

First off, you have to pay for everything out of pocket to even start working. 250$, includes uniform, background check, finger printing, drug test, etc. 
The manager, forged my signature and information on a CPR renewal without my approval. When I contacted HR, regarding this, I was laughed at. I reached out to the owner of the company where he told me that he was not able to do anything about what someone else does. Basically he cared less. 
I was told the pay would be higher than it was. The health insurance they offer is a joke. 
You will never get off on time. If you try and reject a call after you’re already supposed to be off they will threaten your certs. You don’t have time to do call reports, as you’re constantly on a call. There is no communication between dispatch and facilities, so a lot of the time the patient has been moved or their appointment was cancelled, but you don’t find this out until you drive 2+ hours sometimes. 
You don’t get a break most of the time, so that means you’re working 12+ hours without being able to eat a bite of food. 
The trucks are beyond disgusting. Do not meet health codes in the slightest. They pull vehicles out during inspection that they know will fail, and then threaten you if you say you don’t feel safe driving a certain truck. None of the equipment works. You’ll have to purchase your own out of pocket if you intend to keep a patient alive. It hasn’t been updated or replaced since the 90s. That includes gloves, masks, BP cuffs. All of it. 
This company is a joke. Whatever you do, don’t work for scare care. 

It's a great place to get your first experiences in EMS. You see so many different challenges and facilities and walks of life. You do valuable work and realize that without medical transport companies , the 911 system, as it is currently -- would be crushed like bug. You can spend your time helping helpless patients and feel really accomplished.

But you will never see a pay-raise, no matter how stellar you are. You'll see high turn over rate, no regard for your wellness, you'll be stressed to the point that you eat hours after you become hungry (and I bring lunch!), and you'll get stressed the-heck out -- I guarentee it. You get pushed from patient to patient to patient and you either get to do all of your patient reporting at the end of the day before you go home, or rush to get it done at the end of each call, until dispatch inevitably reports you for 'sand-bagging.' Your location is acutly tracked via the radios that you're supposed to keep on you, at all times. The uniforms are pants and a canvas-like thick /white/ collared button-up that just begs over-heating, in the summer. You will always be working over the scheduled end of your shift, every shift. My shift location AND time have literally been changed over night -- nobody asked me if that was okay, nobody emailed me, texted me, or thought of me. You are a piece of meat, at this company. Start putting in job applications a month after you work here.

Truthfully Life Care coming to Martinsville was something that I was not happy about as I worked for a competitor. However when I heard what their salary was and that they offered benefits I quickly looked into the company. Between making $3.50 more an hour and getting benefits after 60 days and after 6 months of employment you get paid for 12 holidays. I started working for this company in May of 2018, I am new and I did come into this company when they first opened in Martinsville. Most of us already knew each other because we ran volunteer EMS together. We are a large dysfunctional family at station 3.  I do like working for this company for more reasons than one. 

However with all that being said EVERY EMS agency has their issues. Management will move you around to fit their needs for the day. Some days you will do more than others. Currently we have to stage in our trucks ( Which will get fixed soon we hope ), but that also just means we are always ready for a call to come out. Somedays you get off on time and somedays you will not. I HIGHLY suggest NEVER plan anything on a night of a work shift. 

If you do NOT like to work then do not come to this company. If you like to complain do NOT come to this company. 

If you love doing your job as an EMT then please come to LifeCare.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Emergency medical technician 5 salaries reported	$25.82 per hour
Paramedic 3 salaries reported	$37.41 per hour
Registered nurse - critical care 3 salaries reported	$38.33 per hour
Driver 2 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour
Operations supervisor 1 salary reported	$42.19 per hour

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