Pros
You get health care experience (good for fire rescue resume, or other health care careers such as PA or MD/DO), transport and respond to non emergency (non 911) calls, and most valuable of all, flexible scheduling. Part time is considered one permanent shift, and full time is considered working 32 hours a week. There are benefits available for going full time, such as health insurance and discounts on services such as cell phone providers, and so forth. The staff at the Broward location are very friendly and always assist in answering questions that I may have about my job, situations while working, and directing me to the right person if they cannot help me. The job itself is very easy and straightforward. Transport patients to and from medical facilities, write the reports for documentation and billing purposes, and perform some level of patient care, such as collecting vitals, providing oxygen, etc. I've been told that AMR provides career opportunities to employees, as many of the administrative staff were promoted after working as an EMT-B. During orientation, we were told that the CEO Mr. Edward Van Horne started his career as an EMT-B for AMR.
Cons
Pay is on the lower end of the spectrum. A starting EMT makes $9.45 while being part time, and eventually you will gain a $1.00 raise after a three month probation. There are other incentives to gain anywhere from $0.75 to $1.50 more, such as working weekends, and you can work standby shifts where you are on call, but make an additional $50 whether you are called into work or not. Some partners have been working here for a while and appear to be burned out. They will do as little as possible by delaying calls, and despite being good people, put you in an awkward situation where you can possible face punishment for a partner being difficult. It isn't uncommon to come home an hour late after the end of a shift. If you are expecting to get off at 8:00 PM (20:00), expect to clock out around 9:00 PM (21:00). This is just the nature of the job, and working on the road with traffic in other counties within the area. During the slow seasons during the middle of the year when the "snowbirds" return home, it can be tough to get enough hours to pay the bills, so for many employees, this is a second job. It seems odd that there is a constant flow of new employees that go through orientation on what appears to be a weekly basis, yet there are less shifts available for picking up for current employees. When it becomes very slow, it is possible that we can be cut from a shift entirely, resulting in a loss of steady income and work hours. No responding to 911 emergencies if you work for Broward County, unless you are assigned to Lauderdale by the Sea's station.
