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 One doesn’t normally think of the medical field as an easy place to get a job. But with just a few months of Emergency Medical Technician training, the prospects for being employed by an ambulance company are good.
“Health is an area in which the economy is not really affecting the prospects,” said Christine Alvarez, director of the EMT/Paramedic training program at LaGuardia Community College. “And there’s always a demand for ambulances.”
As a result, EMT and paramedic training courses across Queens are full, and some have even seen dramatic increases in enrollment this year. LaGuardia Community College’s winter semester EMT/Paramedic certificate program had a record 185 students this year, up 33 percent from last year.
“This happened as a result of the economic situation,” said Alvarez. “It wasn’t anything that we did that brought them here; it was the fact that people need work. This allows people with a high school diploma to take a four-month course and immediately be hired.”
All of the students who became certified after completing LaGuardia’s EMT/Paramedic program in March have already been hired.
Not all training programs in Queens have experienced rising enrollment this year, but the directors of most of the programs agree that their graduates have little trouble finding work. Many newly certified EMTs are hired by private ambulance companies, and some even land coveted positions with the FDNY.
New York City gets approximately 3,000 911 calls each day, so it’s not surprising that ambulance staff are in high demand. The work isn’t all about emergencies though.
“Since we have so many more elderly now, the transportation aspect of EMS has just blossomed, so there are a lot more transport-type jobs there,” said William Powell, program director of the Emergency Medical Training Institute at New York Hospital Queens. “They’re not necessarily emergency jobs, but they’re still critical care jobs.”
Ambulances are often used to move patients from one facility to another if the patients are in need of IVs, ventilators or special medications during transport.
The upward trend in EMT and paramedic jobs is expected to continue. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected in its 2008-2009 “Occupational Outlook Handbook” that employment of EMTs and paramedics will increase by 19 percent between 2006 and 2016. That is faster than the average increase in jobs across all occupations, according to the bureau.
Not only are more ambulance staff needed to meet growing demands, but EMT positions have a high turnover rate, so new people are needed on a regular basis.
“EMS really is always in flux,” Powell said. “A lot of people come into EMS and they use that as a stepping stone.”
EMTs often go on to become paramedics, join the police or fire departments or even pursue advanced medical degrees with an eye to becoming doctors or physicians’ assistants.
Emergency medical work isn’t for the faint of heart.
“You have to be able to handle crisis situations,” Alvarez said. “You have to be able to work outdoors in all kinds of weather. You have to be able to carry people. ...You can’t be an EMT and not see blood and guts and messy things.”
But one doesn’t have to have one’s heart set on the job from day one. Some of the individuals enrolled in EMT training programs started out in other professions and switched courses in hopes of better employment prospects.
Latoya Whitehead, 27, lost her job as a credentialing coordinator, and after searching unsuccessfully for a new position, she switched gears.
“I was looking for a new job for about six months,” Whitehead said. “Nothing. No call backs. I got a little nervous, so I did a little research.”
She found that hot jobs are available in healthcare these days, and becoming an EMT requires a comparatively short time in school, so Whitehead signed up for a course at LaGuardia.
The day after she graduated, she was hired by a private ambulance company.
Of course, not everyone taking these courses is looking for full-time EMT work. Scott Holliday, the associate director of the EMS Institute at St. John’s University, said most of the students in his program already have full-time jobs and hope for part-time EMS work to do on the side.
In addition to providing income, many EMTs feel their work enables them to help their communities.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction in doing this type of a job,” Alvarez said.
Powell agreed, saying, “It’s rewarding when you get that difficult case that you made the difference on.”
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