Back in the day, I was an optimistic, energetic young man that wanted nothing more than to help people. As luck would have it I saw a flyer for a free EMT certification/training program. I always admired medics and this was my chance to become one! So I applied, was accepted and graduated with flying colors. After I obtained my certification I was waitlisted for FDNY Ambulance (the official NYC ambulance service). Understand, that the waitlist for that civil service title is pretty long so I figured I would apply to a few of the private ambulance companies to gain some experience under my belt. TALK ABOUT AN EYE-OPENER AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY! Here are the major reasons why working for private ambulance companies suck:
Bad co-workers
I worked for two private ambulance companies and the sad truth is, most of the people that work there are just miserable, unprofessional, or just plain over the hill. I was with one crew that spent the day hitting on trashy females most of the day and one company and I was with another crew where one guy did all the work and his hood-rat partner spent her day on her cell phone and being a sleeping diva in a bad whig.
Messy ambulances
The ambulances are just plain messy! You end up spending the first hour just making sure you have everything and often notice things are missing.
No backup
On my first day as an EMT me and the crew were sent to get a woman who was maybe 900lbs! The crew they put me with consisted of two women, one of which was pushng fifty years old. There was no way we could get that women up eight flights of stairs to her project apartment. We radioed for backup and after two hours it had not arrived. So I dragged this woman with the power of God all the way up to her apartment until my heart needed an AED.
Extremely low wages
It may be hard to believe, but McDonalds workers made more than I did as an EMT. I was astonished when they told me that average pay was 8-10 dollars an hour! That is what the person sent to save your life is worth evidently.
Workplace violence
On more than one occasion I heard workers who had issues with eachother conspire to injure and otherwise set up someone they didnt like to have an "accident." Threatening to run them over and just toss on the lights and sirens after to cover up the crime. It really was sick!
Paperwork matters more than care
Private ambulance companies love to bill insurance and they do that via the paperwork the EMT fills out. If the paperwork is not perfect the EMT can be fired. They really dont care about the sort of care you rendered the paperwork is the most important thing to them. It is the most souless thing about the business with the exception of the next item.
They make EMTs LIE on official documents to bill the insurance
Thats right! It is illegal to lie on one of these forms and if a person dies as the result of a lie on a form the EMT can be charged with manslaughter but the company cannot be held liable. As a result, the company officially condemns the practice of lying but unofficially they thrive off of having EMTs write down things/services that they did not render so that they can bill the insurance more than necessary. Also considering many of these people are low income patients the bill is really going to medicaid (i.e. the taxpayers). How does this happen? At the end of the day when the EMT turns in paperwork and they only write down what they did for the patient they will be called into a back office and grilled by the office staff with questions such as "Why didnt you write this? Why didnt you write that? That sounds like they were in need of X, why didnt you write that down?" then they threaten your job.
For me, being asked to lie was the last straw. I didnt become an EMT to rob poor people blind. So I left the business and never looked back, I am proud of my time and service as a medic and I have a great deal of respect for those that do this job in the public sector and those trying to break into the public sector, but private ambulance services are just atrocious.