The background.....
13 year street medic (no fire suppression), certs and instructor rated in BLS, ACLS, PALS, PHTLS, and AMLS. Have done it all except flight because gravity works.....and I might be a little big-boned.

The wife and I took the leap to be near family and are loving it. We're getting to be Grandpa and Grandma to our 16 month old granddaughter. There is a chance their location may be changing and I wanted to get an idea of the best EMS services in the country. Think of it as a professional bucket list.

I'm looking for a 911 gig, not a transfer service. I'm OK with a Fire-based service, as long as there is no smoke eating involved.

I wanted to plumb the depths of the hive-mind to know of really good services...... and those I did stay away from.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks in advance.

Wig

I've got a buddy who works for MEDIC up in North Catalonia and loves it up there, good schedule, benefits and progressive protocols from what I know.

In my area (Central Florida) I'd pretty much advise you to stay away as most are Fire Rescue agencies who require you to be dual certified.  

Others that don't are:
Manatee County EMS- 3rd service EMS provider.  Pay is ok but turnover and forced overtime are very very high.

SunStar EMS- private 911 service, very high call volume and pretty significant turnover too apparently. 12 hour shifts and they had been offering a 35k bonus if you stayed for 5 years.  Protocols have advanced somewhat.

Most other counties that have a 3rd service system are very rural so not sure if that's what you're looking for.

Best service I ever worked for was Charlton County EMS in South Georgia. Great equipment, excellent protocols and medical direction, well funded, great pay for the area, and a reasonable call volume. They have the auto lift stretcher system in every truck. About 30-45 minutes from Jacksonville.

 

Ha! I remember watching your screens when working in Denver. If Scott or Val are still doing your dispatch tell them I say hi!

Don't know much  Being in rural MT most all here are volunteer.

 And I doubt you're looking for a federal job (nationwide contract emergency services it sounds like?), all I know is avoid the federal jobs of being an EMT on American Indian Reservations (at least the ones in MT).     High turnaround due to crappy work conditions, and the two guys on our local VFD that work for the rez are waiting till their terms are up and ditching the area.

The state of SC is currently short 4000 EMT's.

Tons of good medic jobs in MN. With the exception of St. Paul and a few smaller cities being fire based, everything else is large healthcare systems, non-profits, or municipal. Usually high-paying, big variety of demographics, and decent benefits and retirement.
It's fucking MN, though, so it's cold like nine months out of the year.
NREMT reciprocity.

When I left 8 years ago now Denver Ops was doing the Billings dispatch. May have changed since then.

Lose some weight and start to fly. Flight nurse here and it's the best job I ever had. 2 day work week. Company actually pushes education instead of seeing it as a speed bump. High caliber self motivated coworkers. Low speed, high drag types usually don't work out well in this field and leave quickly.

Ha! 911=BLS transfers with lights

Yeah, AMR