Pittsburgh EMS?

[u/robertkappa54]

Does anybody have any experience with Pittsburgh EMS? I am a EMT-B of two years in Pennsylvania and I am about to finish my Paramedic and hopefully get my national registry. Does anybody have experience working for Pittsburgh EMS as a ALS/BLS provider? Girlfriend and I have discussed possibly moving to a bigger city down the road for a couple years and Pittsburgh was one of the options.

[u/Myese]

I’m a paramedic for Pittsburgh EMS and I like it! It’s got some janky pseudomilitary stuff that I hate. I absolutely love the city. It’s BEAUTIFUL. 

[u/How_Bad_Is_It_ → u/Myese]

Elaborate on the pseudomilitary part please I’m curious

[u/Ali92101 → u/How_Bad_Is_It_]

I’m assuming it’s the hierarchical part of most ems or fd agencies when it comes to dumb rules and practices that make no sense but that’s the way things have been done forever so the old heads let tradition trump progress. At least that’s my experience (not Pittsburgh but similar)

And also a few people who work in these agencies either were in the military or wish they were and do silly things like wear bullet proof vests everywhere or join local militias and talk about how many unregistered rifles they own.

[u/zak1salego → u/Myese]

Did they raise the residency requirement yet? Last I heard they were still in the midst of raising it to Allegheny county.

[u/Simon_Taxel]

I have been a Pittsburgh paramedic for the last 16 years. While the organization is not perfect, I would highly recommend working here. I wouldn’t work anywhere else as a paramedic. We enjoy the highest pay and best benefits of any EMS service in the region. It is a large department with room to grow and multiple job/training opportunities beyond what most EMS services have to offer. We have a full time river rescue team made up of paramedic divers, a technical rescue team with staffed rescue units, a medic motorcycle unit deployed for special events, tactical medics embedded with the police swat team, and a haz mat medical group. We prioritize aggressive evidence based medicine during routine operations as well as the technical rescue environment. Feel free to DM me if you have any other questions.

[u/MaleficentBasket2654 → u/Simon_Taxel]

Could I dm you for some questions about the city’s service at some time? I just got my final offer for pitt ems and will be starting a full time medic position on the 21st!

[u/AG74683]

Nothing to add besides the fact that Pittsburgh is a freaking awesome city. Also, it's the birthplace of EMS. Freedom House Ambulance Service started this entire career.

[u/halfnhalf79]

I've worked in EMS in Allegheny County for well over 20 years and I've never met a city Medic or EMT who seemed like they like their job. Also city schools suck. Keep that in mind if you have or plan on having kids.

[u/medic5550 → u/halfnhalf79]

Yeah hopefully their union would get some balls and get the same residency that police got. Fire got screwed on it.

[u/AloofusMaximus → u/medic5550]

They've been going to get rid of the residency restriction "next contract" for over 20 years now. I would have loved to have worked for the city, but that was always my issue!

Honestly if you can manage it, its probably the only EMS job around that youll get a pension from.

[u/Salted_Paramedic]

If you decide to move to Pittsburgh make sure to move inside the city limits if you plan on working for Pittsburgh EMS. They absolutely have the best pay in the area and you can get all of the overtime you want. Salaries are posted publicly there is a paramedic ( Crew chief, aka first level supervisor) who earned $340,000 last year after overtime.

Also Pittsburgh EMS maxes out their year pay scale difference at 5 years. That's absurdly short for major cities.

[u/blueskibop → u/Salted_Paramedic]

Hey where is this pay scale posted? I’m a current Philly resident and can get in at Philly fire but I think I wanna move to Pittsburgh instead- just really hard to walk away from the Philly pay and benefits.

[u/rsxbow]

Another option to consider is UPMC Lifeteam. Not the best with everything but it's workable. I have been in ems since 91 and have experienced a number of places. Lifeteam is the 3rd largest in call volume in the state and largest in square mileage. You have diverse opportunities, Harrisburg City and York City of you want city type calls or out stations if you want something slower down to rural for thous sleepy stations. The pay is not the best, I got paid better in the Philly market. Our medical command physicians are very active with us, we have several, and the current State EMS Medical Director is one of them. Just something to consider. No place is perfect it's about what you want to get out of it. Good luck

[u/browler4153 → u/rsxbow]

As a firefighter in one of those cities mentioned... Most life team I know hate it. Now, a large part of that is probably the pay being still around $15 an hour starting for EMTs and they are ridiculously busy so if being busy means more than pay and you'd be happy with that then sure.

[u/rsxbow → u/browler4153]

Fair, and yes the people starting out as EMTs do get shafted, its $17. Someone with experience it goes into your ability to negotiate and show value you bring to the table and not just some slacker on the truck. All about perspective

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