paramedic

emergency medical technician

facilities associate

school teacher

human resources specialist

ASSOCIATED AMBULANCE

It's more of a business than it is an ambulance service. The senior leadership as they like to call it are constantly arguing and never able to work together cohesively on important matters. There is a lot of arrogance being portrayed by the management group whenever i have had to interact. They say that they understand but respond in  TOTALLY unacceptable manner, there is a lot of bullying by the senior management. The bosses are always short with you and do not take the time to sit and chat or even get to know your name. You are always wrong even when your right or never had an opinion in the first place. The people in the Edmonton and Mayerthorpe offices are impossible to interact with. Everyone is tense and you can feel the tension in the air when you walk into the Edmonton office. They preach at orientation about an open door policy but like all the rest of the lip service its a locked door at best. everyone's door is always closed. No one cares about pt treatment errors, no follow up is given on poorly managed calls. The company is very poorly managed from the top, they brag about getting there accreditation Canada with Commendation, however, they do not follow any of their own core values. There is poor direction and even worse leadership! I feel sorry for the front line employees working here, the owners do not deserve good people.   
The hardest part of the job entailed witnessing the Senior Operating Officer belittle and berate a member of his Edmonton office staff in front of 2 of my co workers and a student that they had. Everyone present felt uncomfortable and as we all do in EMS "talked" to and with each other about the bullying style of this organizations so called leader...

Associated is a fantastic first job in EMS and awesome if you like working rural. Call volume is typically 2 calls a day in northern central area, although you do get the odd busy days or days where you get zero calls. You won’t be run ragged like metro EMS. 
    Working rural gives you some awesome opportunities to develop your skills and learn to rely on only you and your partner. You will frequently end up in situations where you have no backup and are an hour away from your nearest hospital. This gives you plenty of time to do thorough assessments and get through all of your treatments. 
   As with all EMS companies there are issues. Management is not always the best but there are some good ones who will look out for you. Company frequently is more interested in you doing paperwork correctly then good patient care. 
    Pay could most definitely be better and it’s tough to support yourself unless you are willing to working OT. 
   Working casual with this company is fantastic as you have never ending amount of shifts to choose from and you get to pick your own schedule. No OT for casuals though but getting to choose when you work almost makes it worth it as it’s tough for full timers to get vacation time. 
  Despite why cons I do love this job and don’t regret working for associated for one minute. It’s been an awesome company to start out with in the field. Most other front line workers have been very welcoming. 
The one downside to being new with this company is that they will place you with other employees who are also brand new to EMS. If you are a brand new PCP be prepared to work with EMRs and other brand new PCPs. 

My typical day at work depends on how busy it was. I usually did a couple emergency calls in day and then a couple transfers meaning we take a patient from a hospital and transfer them to another which most of the time lead to long waits in the Emergency Department or wait while the patient is getting tests done. As I am sure you can imagine some of the emergency calls were very tough emotionally and physically whether you are dealing with children, lifting patients out of some tight spots, or being with a family member who just lost a loved one looking to you to try to help them, though there is nothing that can be done. Management was pretty good about giving you help on those kinds of calls if you asked for it. My co-workers are amazing, and we very much used each other to debrief and work together. They became your family since you literally spend half your life with them. I really enjoyed my job when I was not waiting around in hallways for my entire shift. I have met the most amazing people doing my job. To hear some of their life stories and backgrounds and beliefs and their accomplishments was very inspiring! The best part of the job was hearing a thank you or knowing I made a difference whether I made there experience a little more comfortable or managed to help there pain or make them feel better. The job really could be quite thankless and quite rewarding depending on the day!

This company has by far the worst management system I’ve ever encountered. If it wasn’t for the front line workers, I would have left a long time ago. They preach at the beginning how they’ll be there for you and want you to feel supported, but the moment you ask for help you are met with accusations, resistance and scolding. The management team (if you can even call it that) will do anything to ensure the safety of the company and not their employees. This includes, but is not limited to, covering up harassment claims, not forth right with potential dangerous employees with previous and ongoing accusations against them, and turning a blind eye to employees who are a continuous walking AHS risk form, etc. Unfortunately you are not valued as a human being but rather seen as a robot. Save your mental health and well being and work literally anywhere else. 

I’m very grateful for this company giving me the opportunity to start out in my career, I have received amazing support from management and, my coworkers have become family! There is room and support for personal and professional development, as well as I have always been given an open door policy to voice any concerns, or just catch up with those I don’t see often! I have met incredible mentors through this company and learned very valuable practice experience. There are numerous stations and shift options to choose from whether that is emerge shifts or the interfacility transfer side which creates a great work/life balance. Overall I am very grateful for this company and the people I work with, they truly are a family and I highly recommend associated ambulance for everyone from fresh out of school, to 30 year veteran medics!

Upper management quality is among the worst you'll find. They currently insulate themselves from accountability with several layers of newly created supervisor positions.
No respect for work life balance. No respect for safety. Poor fleet management.

As a full timer, if you don't mind a complete schedule upset from time to time, and not knowing which station you'll be working out of until your shift start, this is for you!

Also, still mandating COVID vaccines after AHS has dropped that requirement.
Better off to apply to an AHS position.

They know there are so many new PCPs and ACPs coming out of schools and AHS doesn't have enough room to take them all, so they gladly take the rest. They simply chew you up and spit you out. Management is a joke, unless you a related to one of them. If you have an actual issue, don't expect management to do anything about it. But if you miss a unit check or something else simple, they will come down hard on you. Can't do your job? No problem, as long as you do the unit checks. 

For anyone considering a career with Associated Ambulance, I would urge caution. The discrepancy between what is promised in terms of employment type and what is actually delivered is misleading and can impose unforeseen financial and professional hardships. They operate very similarly to oil&gas companies, with no regard for human capital. 

I have worked for the company for the past 5 years.  Typical EMS service with the same challenges as every other rural based service in the province has.  Long hours doing transfers.  The call volumes and experience are really good for learning and advancing my skills.  I get a lot of support when I need it from my supervisor and management.  Great place to work, especially if you live in the community you work in.  Travel can be a bit of a pain if you don't.  Highly recommend this place to work.

Associated is a not bad company, they have some very good management and some very poor management. The pay is decent but the benefits are sub par. Core flex sucks but there are 12 hour stations. Absolutely unlimited work available to casuals and essentially unlimited OT for full time. Their are no OT shifts for casuals. Uniform package is sub par. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Paramedic 156 salaries reported	$38.90 per hour
Emergency medical technician 9 salaries reported	$24.96 per hour
Facilities associate 7 salaries reported	$25.36 per hour
School teacher 2 salaries reported	$32.42 per hour
Human resources specialist 2 salaries reported	$30.66 per hour

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