# Sleeping arrangements



## Ms.Medic (Apr 3, 2009)

What kind of sleeping arrangements does your station have. Just curious to know about some other departments. Do you think that the men and women should sleep in seperate quarters ?


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## AJ Hidell (Apr 3, 2009)

I don't think they should be sleeping on duty.

But if by "sleeping" you mean consensual sex, I don't have a problem with that.


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## Ms.Medic (Apr 3, 2009)

AJ Hidell said:


> I don't think they should be sleeping on duty.
> 
> But if by "sleeping" you mean consensual sex, I don't have a problem with that.



LMAO, didnt think *YOU* would.


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## curt (Apr 3, 2009)

Eh, a catnap never hurt anyone. In fact, research points to short naps making you more effective and considerably less fatigued throughout the day or shift. Full on sleep is a definite no-no for heavier sleepers like myself, though.


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## Ms.Medic (Apr 3, 2009)

AJ Hidell said:


> I don't think they should be sleeping on duty.



So if your on a 24 or 48 hour shift,,,you dont sleep ? For anyone else, does your department have a "no sleep" policy ? Just curious.


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## marineman (Apr 3, 2009)

We are allowed to sleep any time as long as our station duties get done at some point during the shift. All of our stations have 2 bedrooms with 1 bed in each room and 2 recliners in each station as well. Only 1 ambulance at each station.


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## AJ Hidell (Apr 3, 2009)

I'm against 24 and 48 hour shifts as a general rule, except in those remote, slow-paced, rural systems where long commutes are the norm and the run volume allows for plenty of rest.  That's not something you see in metropolitan Texas.  I question the managerial competence of any urban or suburban agency who does that kind of scheduling.

I have never worked any system where there were gender segregated quarters or facilities.  And the problems that proposition presents are yet another reason why 24 hour shifts are a bad idea.  I don't support segregated quarters.  It seems a little hypocritical and counterintuitive to suggest that racial segregation is bad, but that gender segregation is good.  This is the 21st century, so that line of thinking doesn't seem to be appropriate anymore.

As for sleeping in general, I'm not really against on-duty personnel catching a nap to stay fresh, so long as the time and place is appropriate.  I'm just against extended shift schedules that necessitate sleeping as part of that schedule.  There should be no reason to establish sleeping facilities for on-duty sleep.


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## Sapphyre (Apr 3, 2009)

Ms.Medic said:


> What kind of sleeping arrangements does your station have. Just curious to know about some other departments. Do you think that the men and women should sleep in seperate quarters ?



Station?  What station????  We use "System Status"  aka, Rocking Random Parking Lots.  We do not have sleeping quarters provided.


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## TransportJockey (Apr 3, 2009)

Sapphyre said:


> Station?  What station????  We use "System Status"  aka, Rocking Random Parking Lots.  We do not have sleeping quarters provided.



That seems to be most common if not in a fire system


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## johnrsemt (Apr 3, 2009)

When I was part time on a fire dept we worked 12-?? shifts.  the dept was 24 on  48 off.   we could sleep, as long as we could make the 90 second response times.  With the fire bell, lights kicking on, and the PA going off with dispatch info:  that wasn't a problem.

at the Private service I worked for we were not supposed to sleep, and were only supposed to work 16 hrs shifts at the longest.  we slept,  and we worked longer shifts.

Now we sit in ambulances and cover tests.  we aren't supposed to sleep, but it is hard not to sit in fron seat, not moving and not go to sleep.  we are on 10 1/2 hr shifts; but can work up to 36 hrs straight, then 5 off. for weeks at a time.  so we sleep.  (I also have a 85 mile commute), so when I have to drive to work, it is nice to get a nap here and there.


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## JAM-EMT (Apr 3, 2009)

Our stations usually have 2 bedrooms, cause they are all houses of some form. We can sleep whenever and whereever as long as everything is done. Other than that the cab of the truck works too.


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## imurphy (Apr 3, 2009)

My station has 3 crews on 24's, so there are 6 bunks provided. Same in all the stations in my company, enough beds for all staff that are on the 24's. Also 3 couches large enough to sleep on. Sometimes I do another shift the next day, and in the hours between my shift ending and my shift starting (usually 3-4 hours) I sleep in there too. 

If a call comes in, we get a phone call, then out to the trucks that are ready and waiting, so we make our target. 

As to the OP's question of seperate sleeping quaters, I think it'd be an unnecessary expence. Generally when we hit the racks, we sleep. Now seperate beds for everyone, i agree with!


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## Sasha (Apr 3, 2009)

I'd hope people were adult enough not to need seperate sleeping quarters to prevent them from doing eachother like hormonal teenagers.

And when you think about it, will seperate sleeping quarters prevent sex? It's not like they sit in their respective rooms groaning "Oh no. There's a wall between us!"


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## nomofica (Apr 3, 2009)

AJ Hidell said:


> It seems a little hypocritical and counterintuitive to suggest that racial segregation is bad, but that gender segregation is good.  This is the 21st century, so that line of thinking doesn't seem to be appropriate anymore.




There's a difference between discriminative segregation and segregation for privacy.

Segregation based on colour is a "hate" thing. Segregating the sexes for things such as bathrooms, sleeping quarters, etc, are out of respect for privacy. There should never be a breach of said privacy in the civilized surroundings.


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## lightsandsirens5 (Apr 3, 2009)

We have 4 seperate bedrooms. Two have one bed each, two have two beds. But if both beds are used the room would be shared be two guys or two girls. Bathrooms/Showers are sepreate also. (Obviously.)

Rooms are real nice actually, twin bed, TV, internet, etc.........B) They even wash our sheets for us, just drop them in the bin when you check out of a room.


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## vquintessence (Apr 3, 2009)

*Clearly this struck a nerve..*

*Sleeping quarters shouldn't be segregated.*  I'm with AJ with his metaphor (or simile?  Hell I don't remember) on racial and gender segregation.

Further, it would be utter BS, and I view it as complete manipulation, for any female to demand to have a gender based sleeping quarters.  In my eyes, that's their way of twisting managements arm to get a more isolated room away from the other 6+ snoring/drooling/farting co-workers.  Ironically, these people don't have a problem hearing/telling sex jokes or other inappropriate stuff, or even cuddling during the daytime, but when night hits, and they really want a quiet place to sleep... suddenly the co-ed situation becomes untenable.

However, that being said, everyone should always be sleeping in uniform, to keep problems from arising in co-ed bunk rooms.  None of that short shorts/ no t-shirt / "I only sleep in socks" crap.

/end manifesto :sad:


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## BossyCow (Apr 3, 2009)

> it would be utter BS, and I view it as complete manipulation, for any female to demand to have a gender based sleeping quarters. In my eyes, that's their way of twisting managements arm to get a more isolated room away from the other 6+ snoring/drooling/farting co-workers. Ironically, these people don't have a problem hearing/telling sex jokes or other inappropriate stuff, or even cuddling during the daytime, but when night hits, and they really want a quiet place to sleep... suddenly the co-ed situation becomes untenable.



Wow, quite a reaction!  Someone was sitting in the back telling jokes during sensitivity training!  To assume that its always the female 'demanding' to have seperate quarters or raising the issue of segregation is obviously coming from some nasty incident in your past. I'm sorry for your pain, get some therapy or just grow up. Today's workplace contains both genders. Not all women are whiney princesses who are intruding into the male workplace with all their girly demands and ultimatums. Most of us are just people, wanting to do our jobs, get along with our co-workers and get paid. 

Management often is the one making the determination to provide privacy. Personally I grew up with too many brothers to have an issue over who shares my sleeping space. On a SAR, we generally are more concerned with who has the best shelter than who is what gender.


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## nomofica (Apr 3, 2009)

lightsandsirens5 said:


> We have 4 seperate bedrooms. Two have one bed each, two have two beds. But if both beds are used the room would be shared be two guys or two girls. Bathrooms/Showers are sepreate also. (Obviously.)
> 
> Rooms are real nice actually, twin bed, TV, internet, etc.........B) They even wash our sheets for us, just drop them in the bin when you check out of a room.



Holy crap that's nice...


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## DrankTheKoolaid (Apr 3, 2009)

*re*

We work 72 hour shifts here.  We have 2 houses in each of our main duty areas.  1 house with 2bed 2bath the other is 2bed 1bath.  1 station which is a freakin HUGE 5 bedroom home also doubles as the main office for the clerical staff.  We have a partition slider door that we can close to seperate them out from the crew areas.  The other duty station/house, we are left to our own devices *snicker*

Corky


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## AJ Hidell (Apr 3, 2009)

BossyCow said:


> Wow, quite a reaction!  Someone was sitting in the back telling jokes during *political correctness indoctrination*!


Fixed that for ya.

While I am completely with VQ on the first part of his post, I have to disagree with his final statement.  If you are going to force me to sleep on the job, it is unreasonable for you to dictate how I do it.  NOBODY should be sleeping in a uniform.  It looks like crap when you crawl into a patient's house like that, hurting our professional image, and diminishing public support for EMS.  Not to mention that some people simply can't sleep like that unless they are way beyond exhausted.  My underwear reveals no more than my bathing suit does.  If you have a problem with that, look the other way and stay away from the beach.  If you don't want to show yours, that's your business, that's fine.  I won't tell you how you should sleep.  But don't tell me how to sleep.


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## nomofica (Apr 3, 2009)

AJ Hidell said:


> Fixed that for ya.
> 
> While I am completely with VQ on the first part of his post, I have to disagree with his final statement.  If you are going to force me to sleep on the job, it is unreasonable for you to dictate how I do it.  NOBODY should be sleeping in a uniform.  It looks like crap when you crawl into a patient's house like that, hurting our professional image, and diminishing public support for EMS.  Not to mention that some people simply can't sleep like that unless they are way beyond exhausted.  My underwear reveals no more than my bathing suit does.  If you have a problem with that, look the other way and stay away from the beach.  If you don't want to show yours, that's your business, that's fine.  I won't tell you how you should sleep.  But don't tell me how to sleep.



Just throw on your EMS jacket and voila! They can't see the wrinkled shirt.


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## imurphy (Apr 3, 2009)

nomofica said:


> Just throw on your EMS jacket and voila! They can't see the wrinkled shirt.



Well that's not the only problem. What if during the night you get too hot, you dont know about it, no-one wants to see / smell sweat!

I sleep with a t-shirt and shorts and that's good for me! It takes all of 5 seconds to throw your shirt on!


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## Outbac1 (Apr 3, 2009)

Our 24 hr bases all have two bedrooms with a bed. Sleep is allowed and expected from 11pm to 7am. If you are back at base. The 24hr sites are rural and have a slower call volume. However they tend to run 24 hr trucks on long hauls and extended coverage areas. These sites have a two minute chute time requirement. 

 The 12 hr bases had the beds taken out years ago. You are expected to come to work able to do your shift. However if we are not busy most of us are sacked out on a couch on night shifts. Day shifts are usually busy enough to keep us awake, however we do get one and two nap days now and then. A 1 minute chute time is required here. 

 If there are not separate rooms then it's you on one couch and your partner on the other, whether they are man, woman or beast.


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## vquintessence (Apr 3, 2009)

BossyCow said:


> Wow, quite a reaction!  Someone was sitting in the back telling jokes during sensitivity training!  To assume that its always the female 'demanding' to have seperate quarters or raising the issue of segregation is obviously coming from some nasty incident in your past. I'm sorry for your pain, get some therapy or just grow up. Today's workplace contains both genders. Not all women are whiney princesses who are intruding into the male workplace with all their girly demands and ultimatums. Most of us are just people, wanting to do our jobs, get along with our co-workers and get paid.



I didn't say you are all demanding princesses.  Most women are like you Bossy in that there's no problem with coed sleeping situations.  You are right in that I've had experiences (plural) where women manipulate a situation to get private quarters; I didn't extend that comment to include other "demands" for special treatment.  You all punch in, work, lift, assess, cover shifts, push meds, show compassion, etc   just like the next guy.

But yes, the past is oh so painful, I really should call my crisis managment hotline...   My eyes just dilate when I remember another one of the guys (minus male anatomy) giving our managers _liberal syndrome (aka liability fear)_ because it's a "sensitive issue coercing" co-ed dorms.



			
				AJHIDELL said:
			
		

> > Someone was sitting in the back telling jokes during *political correctness indoctrination*!
> 
> 
> 
> Fixed that for ya.


Amen!


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## jochi1543 (Apr 3, 2009)

We only have one 1-bedroom apartment, so we have to share, male or female. It's against the law, but our supervisor doesn't care. I personally get along fine with the male partner I have for 2 out of the 4 days of my rotations, so I don't mind sharing living quarters with him (the guy who's with me the other 2 days lives in town). I just wish we had a 2nd bed - we only have 1 bed and a couch. It's been like that for months, since I started...before, they didn't even have an apartment, so they couldn't get any staff.


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## BossyCow (Apr 3, 2009)

vquintessence said:


> I've had experiences (plural) where women manipulate a situation to get private quarters;
> 
> And I've had experiences with the 'wimmins don't belong here' jerks who would bring porn to work just to make the females feel uncomfortable. I started my work career in the early 70s when a woman's right to earn a living raise had not yet been accepted as mainstream opinion and those of us willing to do a days work for a days pay were seen as threats to the American way of life. If you were cute you were prey, if you weren't, you were ridiculed.
> 
> I believe that there are jerks in all genders, races religions and creeds. But when you single out one to talk about, you reinforce a stereotype which by your second post, you don't even believe.


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## Ridryder911 (Apr 3, 2009)

We do 24's and now started 12's as well. Each station has private bedrooms with t.v., etc  Problem we are not there very much any more. Main HQ has separate locker and showers per genders. The substations have one shared. 

Years ago we had men's/ women's bunk rooms & separate showers, r/r. 

If you don't believe things don't go on in EMS one is naive. Personally what one does is their business, but don't come whining later when the litigations to be paid and I don't want to hear about the break ups...

R/r 911


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## lightsandsirens5 (Apr 3, 2009)

nomofica said:


> Holy crap that's nice...



Not bad for a volunteer agency......


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## rhan101277 (Apr 4, 2009)

Sasha said:


> I'd hope people were adult enough not to need seperate sleeping quarters to prevent them from doing eachother like hormonal teenagers.
> 
> And when you think about it, will seperate sleeping quarters prevent sex? It's not like they sit in their respective rooms groaning "Oh no. There's a wall between us!"



Yeah but doing it sure is fun 

On the serious side, we have 12 hour shifts, 24 hour shifts and some 48.  You can sleep right when you get there if you want, after you check of the ambulance, which only takes 1 hour. But you have to be ready to respond and such.  I sleep with all my clothes on and boots, during the day.  At night I sleep with everything on but my boots.  We have seperate girls and boys sleeping quarters.  But a both girls and boys shower (only one allowed at a time).


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## EMTinNEPA (Apr 4, 2009)

In a word: zilch.  If you aren't lucky enough to grab a couch, you sleep in a chair, in the back of the ambulance, or you steal the cushion from an O.O.S. litter, put it on the floor, and sleep.


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## CAOX3 (Apr 4, 2009)

rhan101277 said:


> But a both girls and boys shower (only one allowed at a time).



Now thats a progressive EMS system.  The only thing I would require, is one boy and one girl mandatory in the showers at all times...To conserve water and time of course.


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## ErinCooley (Apr 4, 2009)

We have 2 24 hour trucks out of my station.  2 bedrooms up stairs w/ 1 bed each, 2 bedrooms down w/1 bed each.   On my shift the paramedics are men, EMTs women.   The men sleep upstairs, the girls down. 

Its not a privacy thing, in our case the men snore like polar bears and fart all night, us girls dont!

And, if hidden during the day you can sleep.   You can't pile up on the couches until after 5.


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## Hockey (Apr 4, 2009)

I don't care what you say, I get paid to sleep at work.


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## amberdt03 (Apr 4, 2009)

i work out of a hospital and we have a boys room and a girls room with bunk beds, and a matress that can be layed down on the ground in each room


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## medic417 (Apr 4, 2009)

Separate bedrooms for all crew members.  TV in each room.  Sleep once chores are done.  I think it is BS for any 24 hour service to say no sleep before 5pm as you can not be sure I will get sleep later.  Then the 24 becomes dangerous.  Now at busy services w/o 95% + chance of getting sleep we should not do more than 12 hour shifts which we all know will end up being closer to 14-16 by time come in early for shift change and finishing reports, etc at end.


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## AJ Hidell (Apr 4, 2009)

ErinCooley said:


> Its not a privacy thing, in our case the men snore like polar bears and fart all night, us girls dont!


Nonsense.  The worst snoring I have ever endured was from a couple of the cows I have worked with.


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## reaper (Apr 4, 2009)

We have one bedroom with a king size bed. We all pile in and cuddle all night. This saves on heating bills!!


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## daughertyemta (Apr 4, 2009)

The department that I just left, we could sleep whenever we wanted to.  We had two stations in our county and there was just one big bedroom with 5 beds.  There was co-ed sleeping.  When I first started there I wasn't used to that and it took some getting used to.  Sleeping in a room full of guys I didn't know was weird.  But they became some of my best guy friends and now it doesn't matter where Im at. It doesn't bother me.  I have to sleep with guys at the firehouse when I do my clinicals for my medic.  A fire department that has a little ole measly 3 females on the department!  So that can be interesting with those guys!
I see no prob. with females sleeping with males..and no not in that sense either   Its a mans job right now and everyone should keep their hands to theirselves!  haha


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## nightstar22 (Apr 6, 2009)

our station is actually an old house... we have two bedrooms with two beds in each. normally partners sleep in the same room. the only time there is any exception is when someones spouse would throw a fit if they found out that their spouse was sleeping in the same room of someone with the opposite sex.. or if there are only 2 people on shift, sometimes they will sleep in separate bedrooms.. as for me, at night i normally sleep on the couch in the living room.


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## mycrofft (Apr 6, 2009)

*Back in Bedrock...*

In the USAF fire station, we had a too large second story bunkroom and we each received Hermann Miller-type dividers with a bed and a one drawer nightstand just before we received our first female firefighters. Most of us slept in GI underwear (like civilian but plain) and slid into our shirts and then the boot/pants combo to respond.
Civilian: one company had a four bedroom "dorm" and no females at night. The other company had 16 hr overnight shifts, each of the two stations had a room to sleep in (the older little station used the dayroom as the bunkroom and kitchen too), we usually rested in our uniforms on top of the covers and sometimes slept.
In the field with the Guard, we usually had the back half of our old GP Medium tent (like M*A*S*H* 's chow tent)  to billet, we were on 24 hr call, and the front half was for pts. If they multiplied, we contracted. Once we camped out of the ambulance and worked on a table alongside under a tarp. Would alsways keep a clean pair of BDU's and socks for sleeping
Sleeping in your unit is great publicity for your company, no? :unsure:


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