Diptherious

Hey Junagree, I just graduated from the Centennial Paramedic program in the last few years so I've got some insight for you. To put it bluntly the program is VERY HARD and VERY INTENSIVE. It's 5 days a week of in class work, and generally when you're not there you're going to be either doing practice scenario calls or studying. You've mentioned that you've had previous university education which will help for sure but unfortunately there's more to it then just that. You will have to pass all your in class tests, and then seemlessly apply that information to the practical testing portion, which is a lot harder then it sounds as roughly 75% of my class had previous university education and many still flunked hardcore. You'll also be evaluated on your lifting ability, in hospital clinical portion, and real life ambulance ride out training. If you fail any one of these aspects you fail the entire program, no ifs and or buts, and generally anything bellow 60-70% depending on the class is a failure (in fact I think all other colleges set the fail mark at anything bellow 70% for all testing). Because of this the attrition rate for basically every paramedic program is over 50%, and even then not everyone who graduates will receive a job do to the ridiculous amount of competition in Ontario. There's not nearly enough jobs to go around, and even though Toronto is doing a ton of hiring right now by the time your graduate they'll likely have filled their quota and do very little hiring. I wouldn't even recommend working in Toronto, as I did my ambulance ride out training with Toronto EMS and HATED IT! In fact I turned down a full time job there to work part-time in a difference service, just cause I despised it that much. I realize I sound incredibly pessimistic, but the reality is there's a lot of people who have attempted to do what you're doing and regereted it for the reasons I've stated above.

I'm a recent graduate of Centennial College, and personally had mixed feelings about going to Centennial. The most glaring issue is the large class sizes (mine was over 100 students) and this creates issues during lab scenario time as I felt they had to shuffle through students quickly and you didn't get as many scenarios or 1 on 1 time with the instructor. Also the program coordinator is heavily involved in research and doesn't seem to have a lot of time for his students, and he used our final evaluation scenarios as research projects which I felt was incredibly disruptive. On the good side though the professors are all excellent and will prepare you well for any written test you will write (Only 1 Centennial student has failed the AEMCA in the past few years). The college does generally have a good reputation amongst services and seems to be favoured by some (Then again so is Humber). The best way to get your foot in the door with a service though will be to ride out with them, and Centennial has lots of options open especially in the GTA. I'd say definently take Centennial over Conestoga but if you're accepted at Humber then you'll have to weigh the the positives and negatives of both. As for side jobs such as patient transfer and life guarding, do as much as you can. 99% of the interviews I did were graded on a point system, and the more you say/have the better your "mark". I did patient transfer and not only did it assist with my driving, it was a HUGE bonus when it came to interview time. I had lots of examples when they asked integrity/patient contact questions, and when I could list off that many more reasons why they should hire me (Driving experiecing, Know the roadways, know all the hospital locations, etc). Volunteering also came up on a couple interviews so do taht if you can.

Hey sl91, I've just recently graduated and been employed at a paramedic service in Ontario so I've got some insight for you. Like others are saying if you intend to stay in Ontario, accredation isn't that big a deal and makes no noticable difference in the hiring process. You should look into the class sizes and course options at each of the colleges to see which one is for you. The main piece of advice I would give to any prospective student is to go to school near and ride out with the service you want to work for. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes and denies this, but paramedic services in ontario are incredibly shrewd and picky about who they hire (They can be when they have hundreds of people applying for a few spots). A lot of services play favourites and won't even invite you to their testing if you don't live/ride out in their area, plus I found there was favourtism based on what college you went to.

Unfortuantely this is an issue caused by the current mayor/city council, not the service itself. Toronto EMS has made it publicly know obviously and pleaded with the mayor for permission to hire more medics. Unforunately the mayor is more concerned with cutting costs to balance his books, rather than the safety of his citizens. Little does he realize the medics working over time are receiving double time, as opposed new recruits who would fill the shifts and take normal pay

Depends on the situation. If the cars where causing a major road hazard and/or blocking significant amounts of traffic then they should be moved ASAP. However from the photo you provided it looks like they're in rural area and that cars aren't causing a major obstruction to the roadway. As long as traffic is safely directed around the vehicle, then I don't see how the short break would be an issue.