Medical Care Transportation Technician - Paramedic

Summary

This Medical Care Transportation Technician - Paramedic position is assigned to the Togus VA Medical Center - Augusta, Maine, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Transportation Services (VTS), Ambulance Service.

Duties

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** ***THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH*** Major Duties: Responds to on-site accidents and other emergencies involving injury and illnesses, sometimes encountering situations which may be life threatening. Determines and prioritizes appropriate medical treatment/procedures and need for additional assistance and performs patient triage and take/records patient's vital signs as needed. Performs physical examinations and obtains patient history, assesses status of patient's neurological system, cardiovascular system, circulatory system, skeletal system, orthopedic system, motor and sensory skills, and level of consciousness. Performs invasive and non-invasive procedures on patients with life threatening and non-life-threatening conditions per established procedures or as authorized/directed by physicians. Responds to cardiac and respiratory emergencies, performs cardiac monitoring and defibrillation; maintains circulation controls bleeding and provides spinal management and immobilization. Prioritizes treatments for patients having multiple problems and employs a variety of advanced emergency medicine techniques, methods, and equipment during transport to the appropriate medical facility. Provides fluid resuscitation by intravenous line (IV) and manages trauma injuries, bleeding, and post-traumatic shock. Operates various emergency vehicles and emergency/medical equipment, tools and supplies which may include ambulance, extrication tools, blood pressure cuff, cardiac monitor, glucose monitor, defibrillator, endotracheal tube, external pacing device etc. Performs all duties as assigned. Condition of continued employment: EMT Paramedic shall maintain obtain certification as a National Registered Emergency Medical Technician (Paramedic) no later than (NLT) 18 months after employment as condition of continued employment with VA. Work Schedule: Paramedics work rotating shifts, including holidays, and are subject to occasional recall to maintain adequate coverage of the Emergency Department and ambulance service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Mandatory overtime may be required due to run times that may extend beyond normal scheduled work hours. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Designated Drug-Testing Position: Applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test result is received.

Qualifications

In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. AND This position includes a Selective Placement Factor (skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. The Selective Placement Factors for this position are: Screen-out: Medical Care Transportation Technician - Paramedic must possess and maintain current Basic Life Support Provider (BLS) Certification. Possess this certification. (Certifications required to receive credit for further consideration). Must upload certification. Screen-out: Medical Care Transportation Technician - Paramedic must possess and maintain current Advanced Cardiac Life Support Provider Certification. Possess this certification. (Certifications required to receive credit for further consideration). Must upload certification. Screen-out: Medical Care Transportation Technician - Paramedic must possess a valid/current state issued/certification for eligibility for employment (Paramedic). Possess this certification (Certifications required to receive credit for further consideration). Must upload certification. Screen-out: Possess a valid state driver's license. (Do NOT provide driver's license. We may not accept pictures. This requirement will be verified during interview). Do NOT upload. In addition to the English Language Proficiency and Selective Placement Factors above, to qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level, you must meet one of the following qualification requirements. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Possess at least (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-08) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the Medical Care Transportation Technician -Paramedic. Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled. Specialized experience includes knowledge of a majority of body systems, i.e., skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and genitourinary, to perform patient examination; responding to accidents and other emergencies involving injury and/or illness which may be life-threatening and require basic life support procedures; experience providing transportation of patients to medical treatment facilities; using communication equipment and techniques to accurately obtain and relay information to and from dispatchers and health care providers; knowledge of protocols and treatments used in the delivery of emergency care for persons injured in chemical, nuclear, biological, and hazardous materials incidents; and experience operating emergency or patient transport vehicles. OR SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Possess a successfully completed two (2) full years of graduate education or a Master's degree directly related to the work of this position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. OR COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Possess an equivalent combination of successfully completed graduate education (in excess of one year) and experience, described above, to meet total qualification requirements. Physical Requirements: The Paramedics work involves extended periods of heavy moving and lifting of patients in a variety of situations. Generally, the work requires recurring bending, lifting, stooping, stretching, and positioning of patients, frequently under adverse conditions or in confined areas. Paramedics may be required to spend prolonged periods in protective breathing apparatus and protective clothing during chemical, nuclear, biological, or hazardous materials incidents/exercises. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Required Documents" below for details. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. NOTE: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13044858. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 09/08/2026. After submitting the online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. IMPORTANT: If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit.