Pros
-get experience -great people work here -pretty good equipment if you work in the right areas -ability to move up in the company (if you want to move to or live in Texas) -pay is more than fast food -pay will be more if there are competition companies in the area -can payroll deduct for paramedic school (no they don't just pay for it like other companies) -if you like the color green then you are in luck (no one will pinch you on st. Patty's day) -401k that they match up to 4% in the ESOP (employee stock ownership program) -company expanding -some areas offer paramedics sign on bonuses -normally a good amount of chances to make overtime (unless you are in flex in which you are guaranteed 80 hours but until you physically meet those 80 hours then all your working is just helping you meet your 80 hours so if you come in on your off days before meeting the 80 then you are working for free) -loves to hire veterans and current military -almost always hiring -the box trucks are very stable -get Walmart gift cards every now and then which can be used to pay for $25 worth of gas -can get vacation time, sick time and other benefits after a year (insurance is blue cross blue shield of Louisiana and dental is delta dental) -will hire you with zero medical field experience as long as you can pass the lift test and have a certification
Cons
-your opinion means nothing even though you are the one dealing with the equipment and patients -people sitting at a desk (in almost all other jobs at the company) make more money than you -you get paid more to be in dispatch (where you get a lunch break and are safe) -cares more about billing patients than patient care quality -besides what your patch entails you do and what shift duties are, you are also expected to play detective (to find out addresses when patient gives a different one than the one used previously), insurance even if patient tells you they don't have any and the hospital has none on them and to find out parents' birthdays when the minor patient says they don't know -will hold missing work due to legit medical reasons against you (even if your doctor won't clear you to work) -the people in the billing department will send tickets back to you that have nothing wrong with them asking questions about things you already have answered in the narrative -almost always hiring (you are expendable, there is always a new class finishing emt/p school) -in flex you are not reimbursed for mileage driven and sometimes have to drive over an hour to get to assigned truck of the day -the vanbulances are very top heavy and that is where the company is trying to get all ambulances to -they will raise the base pay to where people that have been here for a long time are making only $0.50-$1 something more than people fresh out of school -very small raises. Normal seems to be 1% -a lot of people burnt out from being used and abused by the company -hires some people that make you rethink your life decisions