firefighter/emt

captain

firefighter

firefighter/paramedic

wildland firefighter

Rural Metro

The company and the management doesn’t care about there employees. the fire chief(project manager), and the 3 battalions lie to there fire fighters, they make broken promises and they only care about themselves. The battalions make the fire fighters do extra chores/duties, and jobs that might not be in there job description so the battalions can impress the fire chief. The battalions only care about themselves and will throw firefighters under the bus to make them look good for the fire chief. The fire chief has been promising more pay, more staffing, and more/ newer equipment since he has started and we haven’t received anything he has promised, except new gear but we needed new gear since our gear was out of date. You can’t believe a thing the fire chief and the battalions say because majority of the time there lies. The fire chief knows nothing about the fire/ems service in Ohio, but he acts like he knows everything. The company requires the fire chief  to have a emt-b certification and he doesn’t even have one, but I’m sure the company doesn’t care since they hired a fire chief that has the Ethics commission after him. I would say around 90% of the firefighters that work here are looking for jobs elsewhere due to working for bad management and working for a bad company. The other 10% that would stay here as a firefighter couldn’t leave due to age, or just not physically able to pass another fire departments physical agility. Don’t try to have a life outside of this place because they will force you to work all the time due to short staffing and they don’t care that they forced you multiple times in one week. All they care about is that theres a “warm body to fill the truck seats”. The best thing for the airport is to become port authority and fire all the management at the arff fire station or allow Columbus fire to take over. I would not recommend anyone to apply here.

The Good:
If you are new to EMS or want experience in a high call volume system, AMR CNY isn't a bad option. The equipment is quality, they put patient care first, they have ok benefits, and they have a large quantity of high-quality employees and providers. Management is accessible, and always willing to speaking with employees about any issue. The field supervisors are some of the best EMS providers and supervisors I have ever met. This is a company where you can pick up unlimited overtime. They majority of full-time employees work 12-hour shifts, 4 days on, 4 days off. 

The Bad:
You will always be able to be paid more to do less work somewhere else. The benefits won't kill you, but they are by no means good. They routinely do not have enough staff on duty for the number of EMS calls received. There is very little to no down time during your shift unless you are stuck at a hospital, waiting to turn over care. Getting burnt out is a very real and present risk, especially combined with the low pay, forces employees who should really take time off to not take time off, and instead work overtime. 

The Ugly:
If is very hard to get fired. The EMS system is so desperate for providers, that few actually get fired. The company seems unwilling to pay more to keep high-quality providers, or support staff. Training is lack-luster and offers ACLS, CPR, and PALS on a repeating loop. If you want to take a course outside of the company, it is very difficult to get them to pay for it.

Planning and system development of a rapidly growing General Transport Market; Responsible for the direct supervision of field and dispatch employees; QA/QC - Ensure proper documentation to maximize collections. Policy conception, revisions and implementation; Ensure contractual obligations are met with our current and future clients; Oversight of employee compliance with policies, procedures and medical protocols; Work in unison with Hospital administrators, SNF case managers and Fire Department Officials to ensure seamless patient care. Assist and participate in multi-agency training activities. Conduct thorough and timely customer service and clinical investigations. Motor Vehicle Accident Investigations; Assists in new hire selection and screening; Maintain employee morale and team spirit; Responsible for quarterly and yearly employee evaluations as well as disciplinary actions. Management of payroll adjustments and discrepancies; Management of employee vacation and sick time; Marketing and public relations; provide emergency medical care for both medical and trauma patients in the North Georgia markets. Preceptor to newly employed EMT-I’s and Paramedics, assisted with area familiarization, map reading, company SOP’s, and Fulton County Protocols; Assisted in the development and implementation of SOP’s and Clinical protocols for the Critical Care program. 

I was with a great group of guys and gals, the company officers, and batt. Chiefs were great and looked out for their people, and even GMR was very good to me, but… the call volume if you are on the fire-medic is ridiculous, like bad!!! I had come from a very large department that was very busy but I hadn’t ever routinely run 18-20 calls per shift like I was in Knox county.  I can’t blame Rural Metro for that because our officers tried everything they could to give us down time and breaks, but the fire-medics were used and AMR system ambulances when AMR was understaffed and overwhelmed which was literally every day.  One good thing is that we were taken out of service at 2200 every day for down time
And only had to run first due EMS calls and Fire calls.  That honestly saved us on most shifts!  Training was good at least at my station and my captain and driver always did their best to make sure we were trained and on most shifts fed too lol!  The biggest complaint I had was pay, we just didn’t get paid even close to good, especially for the work we were doing!! I had to work overtime and other jobs to stay afloat and that just made it hard to enjoy what little time I had off.   I would go back and work with ANY of my coworkers are RMFD in a heart beat, I’d even work for RMFD again because the company as a whole was great but I WOULDNT work there for that pay again, and I would never go back to a permanent assignment on the fire-medic, I’d do a shift or two on it but I’d have to be full time on an engine!! 

The average EMT lasts 4-5 months at SouthWest. Pay is horrible- pretty much same as any other EMT job, but they got rid of the annual raise. Plus, they got rid of the union as well- not that it did any good, taking $60/month while doing nothing for the employee.

SouthWest offers little or no chance for promotion. Performance is always penalized; there are no benefits to going the extra mile. For example- employees are given 5 "points" per year. If you're late clocking in a minute, you're docked a point. But- if you're called up and asked to come in and fill in on a shift, you're not given a point. It's strictly penalties all around.

Managerial decisions come and go, usually as a flurry of memos that appeal like 8x11 white snowflakes falling around the office. They last a week or two and eventually get shoveled away. Don't like a new managerial decision? That's OK; it probably won't last, same as any other new policy.

Duty office doesn't do its job. Ambos come back trashed with open bins, never get checked out by duty office so oncoming crews have to clean up after others. Ambos are missing state-required equipment. BLS units aren't even given AEDs.

Dispatch is an unmitigated disaster. I'd take a pay cut just so they could get a little more oxygen over there.

Medics and EMTs should avoid SouthWest Ambulance as a career. They're fixing to sell the company again sometime here in the next year, so they're looking at getting rid of the pension plan, too.

This company has the potential to be a company that is fun and that makes people want to come to work but unfortunatly, Southwest doesn't think that's important. Here are the issues:

Pay: Pay is pathetic but pay isn't what we got into this business for in the first place so that's okay. We USE to have an annual bonus to look forward to but that was taken away. You might think with how much money is made that we would get holiday bonuses...NOPE! Southwest gives oreos and cinnabons to crews on the holidays.

Management: Some managers are good and some are not. That's about it.

Dispatch: Most of the time they do not know what they are doing and act like robots (like a lot of people do). Hold overs for IF crews have become ridiculous! Don't make plans after work because you will be getting a late call on the other side of town and dispatch doesn't care what you have planned no matter how important.

There are many other issues but I would say those are the major ones. If someone high up on the food chain at Southwest Ambulance sees this (I doubt it) but if by chance there is... PLEASE realize that morale is way down and we need a boost...a big boost. Giving us oreos to say "good job!" doesn't cut it. We all work so hard and it would be nice if it were recognized and you hire more people to take the load off crews that are held over on a regular basis.

My typical day at work begins with checking out and re-stocking my ambulance and prepare for our first call. During the 24 hour shift I will run on average of 12 calls with the minimum being 5 and the maximum being as much as 19 calls. In between calls I keep a close eye on the stock levels of my ambulance and make sure I am ready for any emergency call. During emergency calls I am actively involved in Patient care and transport, this includes Patient assessment, and any needed skills under my scope of practice. During my time here I have learned and honed multiple skills such as IV administration and assessment techniques and am currently learning EKG interperatation. I Have had the pleasure of working with great paramedics that will answer any questions I might have, my supervisors are incredible as they listen to my issues during the day which are rare but also anwer any questions regarding protocol and procedures.the hardes part of my job would be after a hard shift of a "standing 24" running that last call 20 minutes before im off and being late going home. the most enjoyable part is that i have an opportunity to meet alot of different people and see alot of ways of life that most do not get to see, it puts things in perspective.

My typical day at work for Rural Metro consists of coming in and checking off and out my truck. I head to post at random points in the county and wait for a patient needing my assistance. Working for Rural Metro requires a fast learning pace. We are a very busy company for our city and run 6-12 calls per 12 hour shift. Thankfully our resources are plentiful and should you need assistance it is there. My coworkers are like my family. We sometimes agree to disagree but when it comes to the welfare of the patient we always have the best in mind. Our supervisors are supportive and always a phone call away. The hardest part of being a paramedic with Rural Metro is learning to give the best patient care in a short amount of time due to our short transport times. After a few times it's easy to figure out how to make the most of the little time you have. It all starts with the hello. I love helping people. There's nothing else I have ever wanted to do. I don't plan on working on an ambulance forever but I will always be apart of the EMS family.

AMR has the funds to be a phenomenal EMS service in the Atlanta area.  Due to lack of leadership and unable to hire and retain quality employees it fails at even being mediocre .  AMR does believe that throwing money at employees will make them happy and you can treat them like dirt.  When the so called leadership sends a survey out asking about employee satisfaction and 98.2% say the same things about why they are not satisfied, the FBI would call it a clue, but AMR is not the FBI.  If you want to be unappreciated, harassed, discouraged, and made to feel worthless then AMR is a great place for you.  If you happen to be one of the friends of of some one with a management title and you have no ambition, no work ethic, no communication skills and are in general a worthless human being then you will fit in great and will advance at lightening speed.

Received inbound/outbound calls from patient's,attorney's,facility's and other third parties wanting to provide and or discuss insurance and the ambulance service's received. I also post,processed and delivered the department mail through a postal machine daily,only 2 people in the office had access to handle this task.Not to exclude I also did Admin. work for the office billing mangaer. The duties consist of scheduling interviews,greeting guest and handling all office logistics.I have leaned all three job functions along with training with in the 4 years of my employment. I have enjoyed the communication and workmanship of my fellow peers and to show office appreciation we had several pitch-in luncheons. The hardest part would be the company's decision to close 09/30/14 to all emplpoyee's and being without a job. The most enjoyable part would be being able to express my thoughts also lending creative ideas that would help the company.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Firefighter/emt 32 salaries reported	$19.37 per hour
Captain 37 salaries reported	$29.15 per hour
Firefighter 33 salaries reported	$20.04 per hour
Firefighter/paramedic 24 salaries reported	$21.52 per hour
Wildland firefighter 26 salaries reported	$22.73 per hour

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