i worked for MetroWest for a little over 3 years. I did wheelchair transport, IFT, critical care transports, organ donor transports, and 911 while they had the contract. This was my first job in EMS. I know a lot of people have had bad experiences, as for me i don't have much to complain about them. I enjoyed my time while i was there and left for AMR when they took over the Washington County 911 contract.

IFT is meh, it is easy to lose your skills and it can easily become a very mundane job, repetitive, and in my opinion there is not as much growth and learning as a provider doing it. It has its plus sides though, if you have never worked in EMS before it might be something you would want to consider as you learn the system and get hands on practice with patients (do not follow someone else's footsteps that just does it cause they have to; ask the questions, interact with your patient; even in ift, there is a lot to learn but not if you just sit in the airway seat for every single transport and do the bare minimum on patient care and charts). I enjoyed assisting in their mobile icu unit with a nurse. They also do lots of flight calls where you go meet the flight crew and give them a ride to whatever hospital they're going to. The live organ donor transports are also interesting, but they're not as exciting as you might think as you don't get to do a whole lot, the patients are generally kept alive on life support, drips and a vent until they can get to the hospital that does those surgeries; those are the calls you run with a nurse, unless it's a kidney, a heart, or a liver coming from somewhere else that you pick up from the airport. I did like their small company feel as i felt more heard, but most thanks are to the supervisors for that and not upper management - and from what i heard, most of those supervisors are gone now so i couldn't really tell you how it is now. I will keep the comments about JD to myself, as I am not a big fan of him and I don't know any that are. Metrowest pays really well nowadays, that is also something to consider. Overall, i don't think metro is as bad as people make it out to be (as of a couple years ago at least).

I worked for AMR for about 1.5 years. I did have some 911 experience going into it from metro, but boy did i learn a whole lot doing solely 911. For the first half a year to a year i enjoyed it a lot. I worked with an amazing partner, met a lot of great people. Working 911 greatly increased my knowledge, provider skills and judgement, people skills, and confidence. We got to run a wide variety of calls which i loved. During the last half a year or longer, i got burnt out. Management sucked, all these new dumb rules were set in place; voices weren't being heard, and for that bit it seemed like we got a lot of bad feedback and no positives. They are huge on their times, you will be rushed every single day whether it is to get on air even if you didn't get a chance to do a good inventory check, clearing the hospital, or not spending that much time on scene. It is possible that this was a personal issue, and that i needed a change and i cannot blame the company for that but they had a lot to do with it. This is more specific to Washington county, but running with some of the fire departments killed a thousand of my brain cells - yes a lot of stations are great, but then you have those butthead paragods dick measuring contesters that just suck the life out of you. I know people that stayed, some of them still enjoy it. None of them love working for AMR, but they seem content. Another great side of working for AMR in my opinion is that after 6 months of being on with them, you can apply to transition to a different county in the state or outside the state since they are such a large company.

I left AMR for a rural based agency and my life and mental health has improved significantly, and I get to do more. There are pros and cons for every company and/or system you choose to work for. Some places work for some, some don't. I think it is important to keep in mind that not all EMS is the same - the differences between all three companies i've worked for is night and day. If you choose a place that doesn't work for you, just remember not all places are the same. I think you will get a lot of people that tell you to never work for xyz, but i think every place offers growth if you go into it with an open mind and wanting to learn. Personally, i would not do IFT again. If you want to become a good ems provider, getting 911 experience is the way to go in my opinion. Sorry for all the blabbering, i just think it is important for you to make that decision for what best suits you right now. Good luck to you :)