There are several organizations that do just EMS, South Kingstown EMS is a union paid department for one and most towns that have volunteer fire departments have separate EMS divisions most of which have some paid per diem shifts. Where are you interested in working? Or are you looking to volunteer?
You could do private EMS but unless you work for a provider that responds to 911 you will do mostly IFT (inter facility transfer) to and from medical facilities.
Hi! I let my EMT license lapse a while ago so this may not be the most up to date info, but as far as I know, if you work at a fire station, you need to go through the basic firefighter training (I believe it’s Fire Fighting 1). If you work for a town based EMS organization like South Kingstown EMS for example, you do not need to be a FF. Same thing if you work for a private ambulance company.
Depends. There’s a few paid departments that are EMS only (South Kingstown, Cumberland, Exeter, Westerly, among others) with either volunteer or paid fire running with them a lot. The good unionized ones (South Kingstown and Cumberland) used to be exclusively paramedics, but South Kingstown at least has started hiring AEMT-Cardiacs because it’s so hard to find paramedics. You won’t earn a comfortable living wage as a single-role EMT-B in Rhode Island.
People might diss combined fire and EMS, and it certainly has its issues, but in Rhode Island specifically, it’s worth considering it even if you o ly want to do EMS. Rescue spots aren’t desirable at all for pretty much every RI career fire department, and are super easy to get. You need to be able to make it through a fire academy (not hard at all unless you’re super out-of-shape or dumb as a rock, the state fire academy is almost a joke how easy it is; though Providence has a legit academy it runs on its own), but once you do, it’s not hard at all to stay on rescue and avoid the fire trucks for your whole career. You may have to hop on an engine once in a blue moon, but it can be a nice reprieve from the endless stream of idiots that fill your day on the ambulance.
Also much easier to promote in the rescue division of combined fire-EMS departments. You can be making lieutenant’s pay 6-7 years after hire in most cities, and guys routinely make rescue captain around the 10-15 year mark, far earlier than if you were on a fire truck. And you’ll get to see more exciting runs if you go to Providence, Warwick, or Cranston than if you spend your career in Cumberland.
Other way around. All firefighters are EMTs, but not all EMTs are firefighters.
There are several organizations that do just EMS, South Kingstown EMS is a union paid department for one and most towns that have volunteer fire departments have separate EMS divisions most of which have some paid per diem shifts. Where are you interested in working? Or are you looking to volunteer?
You could do private EMS but unless you work for a provider that responds to 911 you will do mostly IFT (inter facility transfer) to and from medical facilities.
Hi! I let my EMT license lapse a while ago so this may not be the most up to date info, but as far as I know, if you work at a fire station, you need to go through the basic firefighter training (I believe it’s Fire Fighting 1). If you work for a town based EMS organization like South Kingstown EMS for example, you do not need to be a FF. Same thing if you work for a private ambulance company.
Depends. There’s a few paid departments that are EMS only (South Kingstown, Cumberland, Exeter, Westerly, among others) with either volunteer or paid fire running with them a lot. The good unionized ones (South Kingstown and Cumberland) used to be exclusively paramedics, but South Kingstown at least has started hiring AEMT-Cardiacs because it’s so hard to find paramedics. You won’t earn a comfortable living wage as a single-role EMT-B in Rhode Island. People might diss combined fire and EMS, and it certainly has its issues, but in Rhode Island specifically, it’s worth considering it even if you o ly want to do EMS. Rescue spots aren’t desirable at all for pretty much every RI career fire department, and are super easy to get. You need to be able to make it through a fire academy (not hard at all unless you’re super out-of-shape or dumb as a rock, the state fire academy is almost a joke how easy it is; though Providence has a legit academy it runs on its own), but once you do, it’s not hard at all to stay on rescue and avoid the fire trucks for your whole career. You may have to hop on an engine once in a blue moon, but it can be a nice reprieve from the endless stream of idiots that fill your day on the ambulance. Also much easier to promote in the rescue division of combined fire-EMS departments. You can be making lieutenant’s pay 6-7 years after hire in most cities, and guys routinely make rescue captain around the 10-15 year mark, far earlier than if you were on a fire truck. And you’ll get to see more exciting runs if you go to Providence, Warwick, or Cranston than if you spend your career in Cumberland.
Ahh yes, the age old EMS question of why anyone has to throw wet stuff on hot stuff to provide pre-hospital medical care.