British Columbia Ambulance Service

New Hire Paramedic's will be sent to a Rural BC Ambulance Station and Paid $2.00 hour, yes '2 dollars per hour'???, you are required to work a Minimum of 8 -12 hour shifts a month, and you will be stuck at that rural station for at least 6 months but usually a year ??, it will cost you more in gas to get to work.  After 3.5 years with BCAS, you will have enough Union Seniority to apply for a full time position in the GVRD, but you will experience burn out, do to the extreme high call volume, and over work in Vancouver or Burnaby, and you don't make enough money to live in Vancouver/GVRD, Dental benefits after Seven years,?.  My suggestion is work for an employer who actually cares about you and will pay you a living wage, it is sad that the BC Government treats a BC Government Paramedic this way, after you have paid $10,000 for your PCP course. You will need to go to a food Bank because you only have enough money for Gas to get to work.  You are required to pay into the APBC Union that has created the Part-time Paramedic Mess,   Management Gets a full time wage so they don't care about the Part timers, working with other great Paramedics and helping people in need is gratifying which might be the only Benefit, you might get a very small BC Gov. Pension when you turn 65 if you stay Part-time ?.

My day starts early with no expectation of getting off on time which is just a function of the job. The days are unpredictable which suits me.
What I’ve learned comes from my iteration ion with clients and other health care workers. My front line managers are hobbled by a senior leadership group and HR who are so fixated on increasing numbers, and unwilling to reward professionals while condoning incompetence, laziness and unprofessional behaviour. Our culture is at best unprofessional and at worst bigoted, disrespectful and juvenile. The hardest part of my job is dealing with unprofessional, lazy and incompetent coworkers. The most enjoyable part of job is my interaction with patients and fellow health care workers as well as the opportunity to effect tangible changes in patient care.

Wow, best job I ever had. Saw the start of life and, sadly, was there when people moved on.

How do describe this, you can be bored to tears and then suddenly the chaos and you are the one who has to sort it out. Great job for people who can, actually, think on their feet. Your co-workers are the greatest people in the world, as long as you are open minded and able to accept constructive criticism.

You walk into peoples lives and do your best to make a difference, not always the way you planned, but at least you tried,

Management totally drops the ball. Most incompetent group who really do not understand the value of the people working for them, zero, actually less than zero support. They promote a disrespectful workplace and the union aids them.

Not me though. I enjoyed the technical side of documenting calls and honestly found it immensely rewarding to be of help during the worst days of some of these people's lives. That being said, talking to PD all the time did not sit right with me, and it was very taxing. Colleagues and mentors are very supportive and the mental health support is undoubtedly there, but it was very hard to separate the job from my normal life. Not the worst management, but there is room for improvement. Salary is decent but I believe it should start way higher for the amount of abuse a call taker gets from the public. Be nice to 911, all they want to do is help!

-a typical day is all about the unknown. the pager goes off and you never know what you are about to "walk into" when you arrive at the scene.( that could be anywhere from a house call to an over the cliff call or a water rescue or an aeroplane crash. THERE IS NO LIFE LIKE IT !
-learned cooperation and team work
-management could be challenging at times, interesting at other times.
-co-workers -well trained and professional
-hardest part of the job is waiting
-most enjoyable and fulfilling part is using your GOD GIVEN abilities and medical training to save another human beings life.

on call responding to pager calls. a call may consist of a simple patient transfer from a care home to a health care facility or a late night call to major car accident.
I learned to think and function independently of management. I rely on my partners and they rely on me.
my partners are the best people in the world.
the hardest part of my job are the injured or dead children.
the most enjoyable part of my job is saving some ones life.

..great job.... if youre just starting out make sure you have alot of time to commit to being on call.  Starting out right off the bat may be trying but if youre looking for full time work, eventually after around five years or so you may land a full timw job in vancouver......  that was definitely the most fun i had throughout my career.  Especially as a young single person in the city.. The friends I made and the experiences I shared with so many are much more than most people would ever imagine.

response time allowed not more than eight minutes from dispatch time to enroute. I learned to manage critical situations and triage patients and accidents. I enjoyed my co-workers and depended on them to work as a team in very trying circumstances. It was difficult at times to deal with constant trauma, especially involving small children. On the other hand, saving a life was very rewarding.

An ambulance system that has been neglected and abandoned during multiple crises. A system that exploits the good will of new recruits and offers limited support to them.  Watching people suffer needlessly knowing that more could be done if adequate resources where made available. 

Many of the staff have reported multiple issues with pay at this company. Each station has a unit chief who represents management which is inconsistent throughout the company. Through years of labour relations and contracts, our pay has fallen behind other first responders, but our duties increase. There have been strikes, petitions, and media stories covering this.

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