paramedic

emt-basic

communication specialist

medical assistant

call taker

Pafford EMS

It’s sad how quickly you learn that the emergency medicine business is not about truly helping patient during their darkest hour, it’s all about politics and MONEY! It’s about having the best reputation and making the most money out of all the other competeing ambulance services no matter what the cost. The county supervisor over Tunica doesn’t care about his employees and is quick to do whatever necessary to get rid of you, if you go against their all about the money and not the patients motto. I’m not a scorned former employee, I willingly walked away from this company because I got into the medical field to whole heartedly help people in their times of need. The Pafford staff were some of the most amazing people I had ever worked with, they became my second family! The pay wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t anywhere near great either. I believe it has changed now and EMT’s get paid for the entire 48/72 hour shift but when I was there the only way you got paid for the full 24 hour day is if you went out on a call after 11pm and you had to be out on that call a certain amount of time. Some of those 72 hour shifts were pure h*ll.. we would have continuous calls the entire 72 hours... by the second night of no sleep, my partner and I would be falling asleep behind the wheel of the ambulance, swerving all over the road, couldn’t think straight, and even though the county supervisor knew it he wouldn’t call us out of service to get rest that goes back to money is all that matters at any cost. If your willing to allow your employees to be in danger and the patients you serve all for a couple hundred dollars something is beyond wrong with that picture!!!!

I worked as an EMT in a consistently unprofessional and poorly managed environment where leadership was unstable and support for new employees was lacking. Multiple supervisor changes early on led to inconsistent expectations, and as a new EMT I received insufficient training while concerns were dismissed instead of addressed. There was a noticeable culture of gossip and inappropriate behavior that damaged trust and professionalism, including invasive personal questions and discouraging interactions from senior staff. At one point, I was told by a senior paramedic that gaining respect required becoming more aggressive and changing my personality, which reflected the overall tone of the workplace. After transferring locations, issues continued with communication breaking down, decisions being based on hearsay rather than direct conversation, and no fair opportunity to address concerns. Eventually, management stopped responding to attempts to communicate, and HR offered no resolution. Overall, this was not a supportive environment for new EMTs and lacked accountability, leadership, and basic professionalism.

EMT-Basics at Stilwell make $9/hr, it's a relatively rural station, nice and quiet most of the time so no big complaints there. The job culture is very hush hush and wish washy. You can make a complaint about another Basic, Advanced, Medic, etc, and word will get around quickly. No supervisory system to oversee the actual complaints. No hard proof of complaints, just word of mouth. Dispatching system is kinda wonky, most are nice but the surveillance systems they put in place are very loud, very inaccurate most times, and secretive. If you're looking for something quiet, pays decent, and most importantly EASY, this is generally the place for you. Few rules, decent people to work with unless you have a complaint about someone else, that you either keep to yourself or stand up to whatever bully is targeting you. ((Also, they'll tell you that you'll make somewhere around 42k a year but thats only if you work 72 hour weeks. You can skate by most times with working 48 hour weeks and still coming out decent))

I started at Pafford EMS back in 2020 after getting my EMT. Being hired out of the gate as a new provider was great. I was ecstatic to be able to get behind the wheel of an ambulance and actually make a difference.

Fast forward six months, and I started Paramedic school. While signing a contract, you think they would be willing to help you with your time off to go to school. Well, you are in for a treat... They did not.

After I finished Paramedic school, I was placed on a 48/96 schedule with a starting rate of 16.00. I was not happy due to being there for over a year and them taking away half of the raises I got as an EMT. The CFO explained it as "Half-Credit." I finished Paramedic school, and all you give me is half? C'mon now. 

Fast forward another year, I bought out my contract because of the way management was. They only care about having ambulances up. The operations manager nor Operations Specialist would hop on the ambulances to help during surges or when dispatch has messed up the coverage area.

Overall, Go Somewhere else. Value your mental health and know your worth. Pafford claims to have competitive pay, but they pay what Whataburger pays an Assistant Manager.

A typical day I come in and check off the ambulance  making sure it's ready for any type of call. Do station duties, restock the truck after each call, fill out 214 for each call, and restock form for each call. 
I have learned that no matter the call, that it's an emergency to someone or they wouldn't have called 911 and to treat every patient with respect. 
Our management team goes above and beyond to  try and make every crew member happy. And to make sure that we have our supplies and tools to make sure we our able to succeed. 
For most part the culture is great. The crew I work with our.like a family. 
The hardest part is when we are not able to save everyone.  It's heart breaking having to inform someone that their love one is gone and there is nothing can do to break them back.
Being able to save that one person that was able to save. 

General work was not difficult as long as you learned your training and stayed confident. 
I learned Real time experience working with patients during high and low stress environments. 
Management often lost paperwork and blamed lower level workers for their own mistakes, along with "picking favorites" when recommending, passing, or promoting employees. 
General workplace culture was diverse, not much to say. Most people respected one another on a personal level.
The most difficult part of the job was finding time to hunt down lost patient information when forms went missing. The long hours and shifts without sleep also took getting used to.
The most enjoyable part of the job was getting to meet, help, and know new patients and workers.

It’s a job you work 48 on 96 off. On duty supervisors play favorites and aren’t consistent. Example a few employees have out of control facial hair and makes it impossible to wear PPE per policy but it’s not addressed. They just want a warm bodies and allow medics and emts to run rogue. You can report incidents that wouldn’t be allowed at most EMS services but because they’ve expanded so quickly and there’s a shortage of medics anything goes. There are a couple crews who are unprofessional and have been caught and reported for unethical behavior but instead of splitting up the crew they rewarded them with premium shifts. This is not the family company I thought I was joining and wouldn’t recommend. 

When I started at Pafford EMS, I was a brand new EMT, and back then I loved it.  The call volume (at least when I was working there) out of the Claremore station was astronomical considering you ran E-calls AND transfers to wherever they wanted you to go (Oklahoma City, Dallas, TX, you name it).  The company, like any ambulance service, makes money off of transfers so they will take a transfer any time, day or night, any distance, with NO regard for the fatigue/safety/wellbeing of the employee, no matter how long they have been on the clock.  Many time I can remember working 96 hours plus, and being so tired when I came home that I couldn't do anything but sleep.  It's a great place to learn the job, but bottom line is the pay sucks, management sucks, and the volume sucks.

Pafford doesn't give raises once you're hired. Benefits are expensive. 401k doesn't match. Management doesn't listen to or care about employees; they only care about trucks being in service and their money. They don't care about patients. Protocols are horrible and antiquated. They hire some really bad medics, but if you have a license and a pulse they'll take you. They want you to work 7 out of 14 days and be happy with it while being paid less than most emt's at other companies. I tried to get them to fix my pay to what they're paying brand new medics coming out of school at and they refused. I got a 7 something dollar raise by changing jobs to another company with more affordable benefits and modern protocols. This is for the Hope. AR managed side of pafford.

The job wasn't that bad, but lord forbid you aren't buddies with the management. They treat you like you're absolute garbage. They put on the whole " We are a family" thing when in reality they pick and choose who they treat fairly and respect. If you're a calltaker good luck getting any respect, you're the lowest of the low, now if you are a dispatcher you get treated like a King/Queen. Overall don't work for this company unless you like being disrespected and talked about behind your back. And don't get me started on the management, and the higher ups, good luck trying to grt anyone of them to listen to your complaints or problems you have. They just blow them off like it's nothing.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Paramedic 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
Emt-basic 3 salaries reported	$16.33 per hour
Communication specialist 1 salary reported	$44,616 per year
Medical assistant 1 salary reported	$28.00 per hour
Call taker 1 salary reported	$14.00 per hour

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