Guardian EMS Review

Service was horrible I went out with a patient for my job they took an hour to come pick us up to go home. Driver was rude, unprofessional, and seem to treat me particularly different than my patient greeted her and not me, asked her to sit in the front and me in the back where the patient is supposed to sit, etc. He then got on the phone as he was driving speaking in another language which made me uncomfortable. Never have I felt this angry in my life

Driver was late arriving to pick patient up. Never gave the patient or family his name, let alone apoligize for being late. Asked dr. Staff how long the patient would be and rushed off without leaving any contact information. Driver was over an hour late retrieving patient. Do not use this company. Communication it terrible!

Used this service for the first time for a roundtrip from rehab facility to a doctor's office. The driver was prompt, professional, courteous, and knew his stuff! His name was Rashawn and he was our driver both ways. The medical van and equipment were clean and well kept. I highly recommend this company. And, don't forget to ask for Rashawn!

Great Transport service. Always on time and friendly.

I worked for this company as an EMT. I have some pretty good insight as to how the company runs. First of all, as a NY trained EMT, I was giving some what preferential treatment when I was hired. I was told most of the NJ EMTs were very ill trained. This was proven to me when I realized that the majority of them fail the entrance exam. I scored a 80% on it. I was embarrassed because at the time, I was in paramedic school (FYI - big difference between paramedic and EMT, but that's not the point of this review). I actually apologized for receiving such a low grade. Turns out I did literally twice as well as most applicants. Think about that for a second. The majority of "drivers," as I was often called (which I thought was extremely rude an inconsiderate), are said to get a 40% on their entrance exam which consists of General EMT knowledge. Because of the lack of better qualified applicants, these people get hired. So case in point - the staff weren't the best but on some level, you can't entirely blame that on Guardian, but these are the people showing up when you would call for an ambulance.

My direct supervisor (the guy that hired me) was actually pretty cool. I think it was mostly because he saw me as one of the smarter ones and because we were both NY EMTs. He tried to work around my school schedule, which was nice. He also gave me an extra dollar an hour because I was coming from NY. Every other supervisor though was not so great. But that's very typical of EMS companies. Most people in charge are extremely cynical and frankly not too bright. They are largely uneducated and even the ones that are act like they aren't. They have a very "better than thou" attitude towards their staff. They act more like they're out to get you than help you. A lot of arbitrary rules and orders. Again, this is not so much directly towards Guardian so much as EMS companies in general.

As an employee, I wasn't too shocked with how I was treated, but some things definitely did stick out. I think when I worked there, the company was more or less in its first few years of business. Most ambulances only got like 2-3 call in a 12 hour tour. Of course, I happened to work in the bariatric ambulance and got more like 7-8 calls in a 12 hour tour. Like most EMS companies, laziness was rewarded and if you seemed like a hard worker (which apparently I was) you were rewarded with more work. They told me to do shady things a lot. Things that definitely wouldnt fly in NY. For example, I was told several times to "light it up" to non emergent calls like a dialysis run because the dispatchers messed up the schedule. That's definitely illegal in NY but I think the NJ EMS system is so flawed that things like that slip under the radar. Having said that, they would then blame it on us saying WE were late and thus have the customers believe that WE were the ones that showed up late. Let me clear the air on that - the crews do NOT get schedules or times for any calls. We get told where to go and when. If your pick up time is 2pm and we show up at 4pm, I guarantee more likely than not its because the dispatcher told us to leave at 345pm. We're a transport company but please do not believe that EMTs and ambullette drivers are one in the same. I do not know the day's schedule - the dispatchers do. But of course, it's easier for a company to dump everything on the expendable foot soldiers. That being said, I was mostly taken for an idiot. In NY we are definitely low on the medical field food chain, but in NJ it was really bad. Being from NY, I knew my stuff. When I would use (correct) medical jargon to give reports to the nurses, I would get made fun of. Kinda like a 2 year old who can speak in full sentences and sound smart for their age is called cute by all the adults. I had a nurse confuse me for another type of medical professional once - which is not to say how great I was but to say how flawed NJ EMS is. All in all, I would say avoid this company both potential employees and customers, but I that particular area you don't have much of a choice anyway.

This company gave me an opportunity to learn, 95 percent of the people here are amazing. Just want everyone at Guardian to know that i appreciated all you guys.

Do not recommend this service. They have been providing consistently late and poor service. We had to cancel guardian. Some drivers were ok, but most seemed to have no idea how to do their jobs.

Do not put up with this awful service. They are late and lazy. They will not wait while your elderly parent is at a medical appointment and then take an hour to return. The woman who answers the phone is nasty. A much better service that does wait and treats your elderly parent with kindness and professionalism is Garden State Ambulance in Hackensack, NJ. I don't understand why Teaneck Nursing Home insists on using a sub-standard ambulance company.

Everyone here is so polite! Addresses all of our facilities concerns. Always prompt and on time. Drivers are always well dressed and in uniform. Alex and Juliana are very extremely helpful! I have no complaints of this transportation company :)