Tired Paramedics Could Be Cause For Concern

PHOENIX --

A four-month investigation by

5 Investigates

revealed that some Valley medics are so exhausted on the job, they are afraid they will make a dangerous mistake.

Some of the medics with Southwest Ambulance told investigative reporter Tammy Leitner that they work on little or no sleep at all. They say Southwest Ambulance has ignored their concerns.

"Families shouldn't have to worry that their children or mothers or fathers or anybody is being transported under these conditions," one source told Leitner.

The medics say the industry standard 24-hour shift needs to change. At least one medic said he has had a close call because he was tired.

The

5 Investigates

team concealed the identities of the medics because they fear Southwest Ambulance will fire them for speaking out.

Part of the problem is that there are more medical calls and fewer medics to respond. To deal with this, Southwest moves dozens of their medics from one station to another or has them park on the side of the road, sources told Leitner. While this allows them to cover more of the Valley, it doesn't allow them to sleep.

"We are always at a different station, but it's not our station," one medic said. "There's other crews there. It makes it so you can't sleep because there's no beds for us."

That's a big difference between a for-profit company like Southwest and the city-run Phoenix Fire Department.

"Every person has their own bed," said Phoenix fire Capt. Dorian Jackson.

Between calls, these Phoenix fire medics come back to their own station and sleep, Jackson said. That's important because doing the job without sleep is possible, but it will wear on you after a while, Jackson said.

"That would be really tough, especially for us here," Capt. Ron Jesse said. "I have to be able to sleep in a bed."

PMT Ambulance -- a privately run company like Southwest -- said its medics typically cover only the city where they are based and if they are sent across the Valley, they return to their own station between calls.

But that's not how it works at Southwest, sources told

5 Investigates.

"You find yourself sleeping in the ambulance most of the time," a Southwest medic said.

Leitner and the

5 Investigates

team followed a Southwest crew during a 24-hour shift and watched them drive hundreds of miles from one side of the Valley to the other and back again. This was repeated over and over again.

"Come midnight or 1 in the morning, the roads start blurring out, things get bumpy," a Southwest medic said.

Medic accidents due to fatigue happen all over the U.S., including Livermore, Colo., where a memorial dedicated to a paramedic sits in front of the rural fire station.

When Livermore Fire Chief Greg Niswender arrived at the station three years ago on a cold November morning, he learned assistant fire chief and fellow paramedic Brian Gould had crashed.

"He went across the center line and hit a semi head-on," Niswender said. "The driver said Brian was slumped over the wheel and that's all he saw before the impact."

Niswender said he believes Gould, who was working a 24-hour shift, was asleep at the time of the crash.

In the wake of accidents like Gould's, agencies across the country are making changes. One of them is Platte Valley Ambulance, north of Denver.

"We try and make sure our crews get at least three and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep after midnight," said Carl Craigle with Platte Valley Ambulance.

Craigle said the primary reason ambulance services run medics in 24-hour shifts despite concerns over fatigue is financial.

The 5 Investigates team offered Southwest Ambulance multiple opportunities to sit down and talk on camera, but representatives from the company refused.