Treemoss said:
These questions are more geared toward heavier call-volume locations.
These are the platoons ( An unofficial, but reliable, site. )
http://www.toemsnews.com/Paramedic_Calendars-15-New.htm
I retired six years ago. But, I try to keep up to date with the Department. We have regular luncheons where senior staff brief us on what's new.
We serve 650 square kilometres ( that has remained unchanged since 1967 ) with a daytime population of 3.5 million people. We respond to approximately 265,000 9-1-1 calls per year. Only NYC and LA are bigger and busier.
Funding of Toronto Paramedic Services is based upon Toronto's residential population, not its business and visitor population. As a result, there are always more people requiring Paramedic services than the system has been funded for.
We only respond to 9-1-1 calls. Non-emergency calls are handled by private operators.
Since 1975, all Toronto Paramedics work 20 twelve-hour shifts every six weeks.
Your platoon ( schedule ), station and partner are permanent. They are not subject to involuntary change.
When a permanent vacancy ( a change of schedule/station/partner or a special squad or program etc. ) occurs, you can bid for it. Bumping is not allowed. All postings are via the Senior Qualified Process. ie: Seniority.
The Relative Ability Process only applies to Critical Care Paramedic.
Because the system is seniority driven, it's best to join at a young age. This will also build your pension. The average age of our recruits is lower than the Toronto Police or Fire services.
AEMCA is required to apply.
The Meal Break S.O.P is seven pages long. In a nutshell, you get a 45 minute paid lunch ( always referred to as "10-90" ). You remain in-service and available during that time.
The variance payment is $40.00 ( that's what it was in 2008, not sure how much it is now ) for each shift.
In the event you are assigned a late call that results in not returning to the station until ninety minutes or more have elapsed beyond the scheduled end of the shift, the City provides an additional thirty- minute Meal Break at time-and-a-half. This 10-90 is taken after wash-up and lock-up. You are not required to remain at the station during this time, as you are now officially off-duty.
End-of-Shift ( EOS ) OT:
All our regular shifts were 12-hours. You could be assigned another four hours of mandated or voluntary OT. If a call came in at 15 hours and 59 minutes of that 16-hour shift, you must do it.
After clearing the receiving hospital, which could be anywhere in the city, you still had to try to make it back to your station to book off.
The only sure thing was eight hours rest prior to the start your next shift. If they decided to change your next shift ( from 0700-1900 to 1000-2200 Hrs. for example) , to accommodate the mandatory eight-hour rest period, that next 12 hours was paid at time and a half.
The End-of-Shift Overtime ( EOS-OT ) SOP was amended shortly before I retired:
"Prior to returning to their station or being booked out-of-service, ambulance crews will be consulted as to whether or not they wish to remain available for response to an emergency call while en-route to their station.
Otherwise, a crew that is out-of-service as a result of being past the end of their normal shift will service a call only if they physically witness or come across an emergency situation while returning to their station. If this occurs, the crew will remain on-scene and render care until relieved by an appropriate transport unit. A crew who act as first responders in this circumstance may choose, based on the critical nature of the patient’s condition, to complete the call themselves."
Because of this SOP, EOS OT has been greatly reduced from when I was on the job. Also, mandated OT ( ordering a crew to remain on-duty after their 12-hour shift ) is now almost unheard of.
The last time I heard of it happening was when a State of Emergency was declared during the Danzig St. shootings in July 2012.
Treemoss said:
I believe heavier call volumes would call for more personnel on the road to help alleviate some of the stress but often times it's replaced with "more efficient" resource management.
Toronto has forty-five permanent paramedic stations located across the city. One of those 45 stations will become your "forever home".
The stations are much bigger now ( to accommodate more crews ) than they used to be. We typically only ran one car on nights and weekends.
As far as being busy is concerned, in my opinion, the busiest "houses" often seemed to have the highest morale. I guess it made the time pass more quickly.
