# EMS crew caught sleeping in ambulance



## Mufasa556 (Dec 14, 2014)

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-...nce-unclear-whether-the-workers-were-on-break

First the idiots with camera's came for the police. Now they come for us. 

All joking aside, the article didn't really tell me anything. Can anyone confirm:

1. Cleveland EMS is separate from fire?

2. They do SSM posting? 

SSM is rough and trying to explain it to the public is sometimes difficult. We would spend hours sleeping in the parking lot across from the fire station on night shift. It was the darkest area within our posting area. I know all the little hiding spots to nap within our different posting areas. If we're not assigned to a call. We are on break.


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## Angel (Dec 14, 2014)

the poor misinformed public. ugh, i wanna roll my eyes out of my head.


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## Woodtownemt (Dec 14, 2014)

I think this story is utter BS. I've been working nights for more then 2 years now and can't begin to explain how important it is to get a nap in when ever possible. Especially if you work in a busy system. It's the harsh reality that we live in times where nothing goes with out public scrutiny. From what I read it seemed the by stander had a chip on his shoulder to begin with due to a past event they didn't get into. I think this is just a shame. It's unrealistic to think people who work nights can go non stop all night with out a break. We as humans are like beautiful flowers and thrive in the sun. We are not meant to be nocturnal. Hopefully this doesn't blow up into a giant clusterfolk. Anyway, hope everyone's their Sunday.


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## MonkeyArrow (Dec 14, 2014)

Definitely a trustworthy report and good journalism when you include an interview with a person unassociated with the story [the fire chief] and report that you "were given the run around".


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## Tigger (Dec 14, 2014)

Obviously this is a crap story. 

I can only hope that Cleveland EMS responds appropriately. Sadly EMS agencies are often apt to do nothing about easily correctable bad PR. This is a perfect time to educate the public and not just sweep it under the rug.


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## johnrsemt (Dec 15, 2014)

People working night shifts need naps?  how about people working 24 and more hours straight?   I would rather ALL EMS and Fire personnel get naps during their shifts so that they can function when the **** hits the fan


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## Burritomedic1127 (Dec 15, 2014)

It's refreshing to read the comments on the link provided. Seems as if many non EMS folks are just as pissed as the EMS  folks about new report


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## EMT11KDL (Dec 15, 2014)

Could you imagine if the public came into a station and saw the couches, beds, and kitchen.  Miss informed public, We sleep when we can.


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## JPINFV (Dec 15, 2014)

Next news article: Residents found sleeping in hospital call rooms. 

SMH.


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## vcuemt (Dec 16, 2014)

EMT11KDL said:


> Could you imagine if the public came into a station and saw the couches, beds, and kitchen.  Miss informed public, We sleep when we can.


NEWS 5 SPECIAL REPORT: EMS PERSONNEL FOUND *SLEEPING *ON DUTY


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## WildlandEMT89 (Dec 16, 2014)

What I would give for 30 minutes of sleep on those stand up 24's. last week my partner gave up on even getting out of the ambulance when we got to quarters seeing as we were running back to back postings and calls.


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## BillEMTP (Dec 16, 2014)

"They messin' with peeple's lives? Hey doofus, if they weren't napping they could easily make a mistake in patient care from exhaustion. 

EMS is it's own worst enemy. We don't educate people in what we do, or why they see us doing some things, such as napping on post. I've been doing this for 35 years and have yet to figure out why there i so little public education. Police and fire do it, why can't we?


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## MedicRx (Dec 16, 2014)

I definitely needed this news story... I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. On a serious note, though, why do people with little to no knowledge of the system feel the need to comment on it or tell us how to do our jobs? I just thought it was hilarious that this gentleman thought they were sleeping through calls... I don't think public education will matter much in this scenario, because telling people we sleep would just make them mad. Oh well... what's one more bad PR segment?


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## Angel (Dec 16, 2014)

the comments are pretty awesome. no ones buying into that crap


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## TransportJockey (Dec 16, 2014)

I might be looked at as an *** but if you're on a twelve hour overnight yoi shouldn't be sleeping on duty. Plan your day appropriately for your work schedule. I work in a hospital on night shifts and if a nurse or tech was caught sleeping there would be issues. If they've said they're posting on a 24 or longer then what I said doesn't apply. 
Like I said, just my opinion


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## JPINFV (Dec 16, 2014)

TransportJockey said:


> I might be looked at as an *** but if you're on a twelve hour overnight yoi shouldn't be sleeping on duty. Plan your day appropriately for your work schedule. I work in a hospital on night shifts and if a nurse or tech was caught sleeping there would be issues. If they've said they're posting on a 24 or longer then what I said doesn't apply.
> Like I said, just my opinion


 

If the nurse or tech was purely on call ("engaged to wait" being the proper HR term) and did not have any current patient care duties AND didn't have to monitor anything (i.e. pager dispatch), then I wouldn't have a problem with it. No one gets upset if the on call physician is sleeping overnight, regardless of how long they've been on duty. The immediate duties of an EMS crew and a hospital nurse are not the same.


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## WildlandEMT89 (Dec 16, 2014)

I like how they think we get breaks. Think people would run news reports about crews not getting any downtime for 24+ hours?


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## EMTinCT (Dec 16, 2014)

We sleep all the time in the ambulance. We wake up when we get a call.


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## twistedMP (Dec 17, 2014)

EMTinCT said:


> We sleep all the time in the ambulance. We wake up when we get a call.


Exactly, When I got hired at my gig I was told if you think you may take a nap do it out of the publics eye go behind a building


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## EMTinCT (Dec 17, 2014)

twistedMP said:


> Exactly, When I got hired at my gig I was told if you think you may take a nap do it out of the publics eye go behind a building



We have our "spots" where we will park the ambulance. Behind a business complex, on the far side of the large parking lot, etc. The diesel engine is soothing and it's easy to fall asleep on the padded bench in the back.


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 17, 2014)

Company policy is no sleeping on 12 hour shifts. It's not strictly enforced however if someone in the public says they saw us sleeping there will usually be an investigation. 

I'm one of the a**holes that says if you're on a 12 hour shift it is not hard to stay awake. 

If for some reason you need to take a nap go far away from where the public will see you. A little common sense will tell you not to park next to a crowded place to sleep.


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## Angel (Dec 17, 2014)

well call me lazy! i worked 8s and 12s on graves and slept every chance i got. granted we posted at a station so the public wasnt an issue


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## johnrsemt (Dec 17, 2014)

12 hour shifts never ended on time for me;  I think my best was a 12 hour night shift that started 29 Dec 2006; and ended 2nd Jan 2007.   Damn straight I slept when I could.   Even if a shift went over an hour or 2 makes for a long shift.


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## Mufasa556 (Dec 17, 2014)

I've gotten some decent sleep on slow nights backed into the wildlife area parking lot, but I usually avoided napping. When we were inevitably woken up, I'd feel like I was wickedly hungover. I just flopped my life. Night became day and day became night. I've worked with plenty of guys who would sleep all shift if they could. I never faulted them for it. 

I worked 24s where if you weren't driving or attending you napped. It was the only was to get through the shift without dying.


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## Tigger (Dec 17, 2014)

Heck I sleep on 12 hour days. It's not one shift to get through, it's a whole week of bouncing around jobs with different schedules. If I'm tired, I'm going to try and nap.


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## Burritomedic1127 (Dec 17, 2014)

My company will send people home or have them take a nap at base if they look/are too tired to function. They encourage sleeping, just not in the front of the rig. That is when the planets align and we're not busy enough to actually say the word sleep


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## gotbeerz001 (Dec 18, 2014)

I rest when I get the chance. I sleep very lightly and the "bing bong" of the MDT always wakes me up... However, I may have been slow to respond to a post move once.


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## gotbeerz001 (Dec 18, 2014)

DesertEMT66 said:


> I'm one of the a**holes that says if you're on a 12 hour shift it is not hard to stay awake.



I'm one of the *******s that says you and your partner make a plan and back each other up.

In the world of fire, they are called "safety naps".


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## RocketMedic (Dec 18, 2014)

I turn the volume up and doze.


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## emt4lifes (Dec 19, 2014)

Seeing things like this really bums me out!


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## RefriedEMT (Jan 13, 2015)

Yea I only wish my adrenaline would go down so I could even attempt to sleep more than 45mins to an hour whether in the ambulance or at station. Another thing it would be nearly impossible to sleep through those extremely high pitched tones that go out over the radio before the call for the ambulance bls or als comes in.


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## MkVity (Jan 13, 2015)

I wear a superman T under my clothes to help me  Really the public got nothing better to do than make a quick buck on someone Else's privacy. I note they didn't interview him about the Non-turning up of crew and as to why. Why would anyone want to see is video in the EMS services they all know how it works. Plus he couldn't have been sleeping maybe power dozing(which you have to do if you body allows or you'll burn out) as you can see he was watching the video go doing what he was doing. Nice clean rig to!!


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## hitman196 (Jan 13, 2015)

I used to work at a very rural area that got 4 - 5 calls a week on average. We worked on 12 - 24 hr shifts and we slept when we could. Though we never had a busy area to stop us of that and I have been to rural hospitals where most of the staff is asleep because they only have one or two patients.


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## redundantbassist (Jan 13, 2015)

Kinda reminds me of a something that happened to me a while ago. Was nearing the end off a 48 hr shift, and I stopped to get a bite to eat, and an older woman tells me that I should not be slacking off and that I would be reported to my supervisor. I guess the public doesn't realize we are humans, and require sleep and food to stay alive.


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## chaz90 (Jan 13, 2015)

redundantbassist said:


> Kinda reminds me of a something that happened to me a while ago. Was nearing the end off a 48 hr shift, and I stopped to get a bite to eat, and an older woman tells me that I should not be slacking off and that I would be reported to my supervisor. I guess the public doesn't realize we are humans, and require sleep and food to stay alive.


I've had very different experiences while getting food in uniform. Most people seem perfectly happy to see me and many strike up conversations. On occasion some ask what happens if there is an emergency which gives me an opportunity to explain that I would put down what I was doing and go respond to said call. 

I imagine much of this is based on the community where one lives/works and what the overall perception is of fire or EMS. Here, I would venture many don't even know who is paid or actually on duty when they see people in uniform. The volunteer fire culture here is so huge that many assume you are a volunteer firefighter free to do whatever you want in your free time.


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## avdrummerboy (Jan 15, 2015)

Anyone see any sleeping in that high quality 7 second video??? I sure didn't, that guy was awake and talking to him.


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## cjclrkk (Mar 9, 2015)

EMT's dont get designated breaks for us to relax. when ever we arent on a call we will close our eyes and relax for as long as we can because after the next call we might just keep going. the public needs to learn how we operate so the can stop being ignorant.


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## DrParasite (Mar 9, 2015)

TransportJockey said:


> I might be looked at as an *** but if you're on a twelve hour overnight yoi shouldn't be sleeping on duty. Plan your day appropriately for your work schedule. I work in a hospital on night shifts and if a nurse or tech was caught sleeping there would be issues. If they've said they're posting on a 24 or longer then what I said doesn't apply.
> Like I said, just my opinion


I agree with you to a point; don't come to work for a 12 hour sleep expecting to sleep.  have I slept on duty for a 12?  absolutely. have I been woken up by my supervisor during a mid day nap?  absolutely.  would I do it again?  absolutely.  

When I worked straight days (7am to 7pm), by 8 or 9am I was looking for a quiet place to rest my eyes for a bit.  Wasn't a morning person, so my partner knew he was doing most of the critical thinking and functioning prior to 10am (not that I couldn't if needed, but he was definitely an early riser).  Worked out great for him, because he started to crash around 5pm, and I was all ready to go and functioning at full capacity.  And more than once did I not get my mid morning nap.

But if you come to me (as another crew in my area) asking for a light day because you are tired, well, I won't have much sympathy for you.  

I don't care what a person does when they aren't on a call, as long as they act appropriately and respond quickly when they get a call


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## JPINFV (Mar 9, 2015)

cjclrkk said:


> EMT's dont get designated breaks for us to relax. when ever we arent on a call we will close our eyes and relax for as long as we can because after the next call we might just keep going. the public needs to learn how we operate so the can stop being ignorant.




Or the EMS crew can do the smart thing, and park out of the line of sight of the general public.


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## MMiz (Mar 9, 2015)

Radio volume up, pager to loud beep, and park out of the way.  Working the night shift, it was the norm to sleep in a SSM system.

If the largest airline pilot's union condones pilots taking turns napping in the cockpit, I see no problem with napping in EMS.


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## TheLocalMedic (Mar 10, 2015)

Alright, so that wasn't exactly a very responsible or informed piece of journalism.  Clearly the guy is just another cell phone warrior with an ax to grind, and the reporter trying to get answers out of the fire dept which (judging by the video) is not tied to the ambulance service was a little silly.  But could the whole thing have been avoided if the crew had just talked to the guy?  

On several occasions I've had people wake us up from a nap in the rig, and they're usually either bemused or indignant that we're "sleeping on the job".  Best way to handle these kinds of situations IMHO is to be conversational and address the perceived wrong right there on the spot.  Introduce yourself and explain that; 1) you appreciate their concern, but you are between calls at the moment and taking a break, 2) you are always ready to respond as soon as a call is dropped on you, and 3) it is impossible to "sleep through a call" or miss a call because your radio and MDC will alert you when your unit is needed.  

I find that taking this approach will soothe peoples' ruffled feathers and leave them more informed so that they won't bother you again in the future.


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## alprazolam (Mar 19, 2015)

I've been woken up several times by concerned citizens. Not so much that we were sleeping but in fear that we were dead. Yes, I work in the 'hood. 

One time that sticks out in my mind was when our MDT went off with "Red Ambulance parked near a field for hours. Occupant slumped over the wheel." I took a picture of it for dexterity. I was so out of it that I was getting all set to respond when my partner was laughing hysterically. I still didn't get it until he said. "That's us!" Dispatch came across the radio and laughingly asked if we were ok.


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## Kevinf (Mar 20, 2015)

I can't sleep in the front of our rigs, not enough legroom in the E-350 (I'd like to shoot whomever engineered that cabin) front ends that we have and almost no ability to recline due to the box being _right there_. I also get vertigo if I try to sleep sitting upright. Hide in the back and pad the bench and stretcher and you're golden. You'd have to be touched to park in easy view while napping though...

Love the anecdote above me


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## escapedcaliFF (May 2, 2015)

Wait what!!! People think I shouldn't sleep in the ambulance??? How else am I suppose to charged up my powers to blow stuff with my mind??


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## Underoath87 (May 2, 2015)

escapedcaliFF said:


> Wait what!!! People think I shouldn't sleep in the ambulance??? How else am I suppose to charged up my powers to *blow stuff with my mind*??



Phrasing...


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## escapedcaliFF (May 2, 2015)

Blow stuff up I mean.


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## alprazolam (May 2, 2015)

Hmmmm.....


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