does age matter for getting hired in ambulance service?

[brentoli]

Just curious, but how is it that a company can refuse to hire an 18 year old because of insurance purposes? Wouldnt that be some sort of discrimination? If I have al lthe same certifications as a 21 year old, would I not be able to perform the same tasks (givin the same amount of on the job time for all you nit pickers)?

Are you being serious?

I don't want to sound rude here, but think your statement through. Completely.

You answered it

how is it that a company can refuse to hire an 18 year old because of insurance purposes?

right there. If a company can not insure you why would they want you hire you and they take the liability on themselves?

But, I digress.

Would you really want some pimple face 18 yearold driving you to the hospital lights and sirens? Would you really want that pizza face shoving a non visualized airway down your throat?

I did it, and I realize how horribly inexperienced I am, and was. And I don't think I should have been trusted with it.

Granted, if EMS was professional, we wouldn't be getting 18 year old pizza faces, we would be getting 22 - 23 yearold B.S. graduates.

[Schwaa]

You answered it

right there. If a company can not insure you why would they want you hire you and they take the liability on themselves?

They have other options, just like the other companies, to choose coverage that allows 18 year olds to drive. Maybe they arn't experienced enough to drive or mature enough to provide care, but that was beside my point.

[Dustdevil]

They have other options, just like the other companies, to choose coverage that allows 18 year olds to drive.

Sure, they may have other options. There are other insurance companies out there. Companies that will cover you, but charge thousands of dollars more. With the miniscule profit margin that already exists in EMS, why would you as a manager want to spend that extra money, just so you can hire a couple of kids, when there is a long line of applicants over 21 ready to do the same job and cost you less? Where is the motivation? Why would they do that? Especially a private company. It just doesn't make any sense on any level. Yes, I know that there are a lot of retards out there running EMS systems, but most of them at least pay attention to the bottom line, which is expenses.

You'll generally find more private transfer ambulance companies hiring 18 year old EMTs than actual EMS agencies, but the reasons are obvious. First of all, they have a much larger turnover and need to hire people more often and faster. And, of course, they have fewer people applying to work for them than the EMS agencies do, because everybody wants to run emergencies, but few want to run transfers. Then there is the simple fact that transfer companies have a larger profit margin, being able to pick and choose their customers, so they can afford to spend more on insurance to keep the trucks staffed and running. Especially since they're barely paying minimum wage to begin with.

It really doesn't take years of EMS experience, or even an economics course to figure all of this out.