“Be sure to sleep when you can,” Frizzell told the paramedics and EMTs arriving for their shift, caffeinated drinks in hand.

Frizzell and the B shift started their first 48-hour stint at 8 a.m. Monday, the third day of a new schedule at Miami County Emergency Medical Services.

“It doesn’t really exist in Kansas,” Chief Jason Jenkins said.

EMS workers previously had 24-hour shifts every other day for six days, followed by four full days off.

The new 48-96 schedule involves working a single 48-hour shift followed by 96 hours off. It reduces the amount of time spent commuting, Jenkins said, and increases the amount of time employees are home with their families.

“It’s a wonderful day at Miami County EMS,” Emergency Medical Technician Chad Oliver said as he answered the phone in the ambulance bay Monday morning.

As their shift starts, the paramedics and EMTs check the supplies in each ambulance, which will be their only mode of transportation for the next two days.

“We can’t go anywhere without those,” Oliver said.

“Or our partner,” emergency medical technician Mindy Bell added.

Ambulance crews have about a minute to respond to calls, whether they are at the station or elsewhere. Crews are allowed to get food, with their ambulance and partner, of course, and each team goes to the gym once a day.

Each shift has its own dynamics. The B shift gets along well, battalion chief Justin Fiedler said, making for a family-like atmosphere in the station. They’re going skiing next week and are planning a potluck for the Super Bowl, which is during their shift.

Most of the shift brought food to cook. Chicken was the popular pick, and Frizzell’s beef dish, the lone dissident, tasted like chicken, he said.

Despite the hours, many still spend time with family and friends, who can come visit when paramedics and EMTs are around the station. Still, the new schedule will be a change.

Bell, whose husband, Jacob, works as a paramedic, said it will be an adjustment to spend so much time away from her 21-month-old daughter, Ashley.

“I’ve called her several times a day, not that she talks much,” Bell said.

Being a holiday, this Monday was more relaxed than most, Oliver said.

Normal business days include training, office-type work and working on reports, he said.

“If we’re not busy, it’s really going to be long days,” Bell said.

As dinner time approached, Oliver reminded paramedic Mark Marvin how much work they still had to do: they weren’t even a quarter of the way done, he said.

During their downtime at the station, the crews can sleep or watch TV while sitting in the family-room-like quarters. Usually, there’s little conflict about what to watch.

“That’s not to say we all like the same stuff,” Marvin said. “We all watch the same stuff.”

Before going to bed, they’ll clean their home away from home to keep their quarters immaculate.

The station near the corner of 327th Street and Old Kansas City Road has two bedrooms the crews use overnight and during downtime, as well as showers, a kitchen and a family room.

The dream of sleeping in Tuesday morning — not having to go home meant not needing to get up — ended early for the B shift.

One ambulance spent two hours on standby at Emery’s Steakhouse in Paola during a fire that started a little before 1 a.m. The other kept busy as well.

No one got more than three or four hours of sleep, Bell said.

Tuesday offered little relief. The B shift responded to 25 calls during its 48-hour shift.

“We need a masseuse,” Oliver said as he stretched in a chair Tuesday evening with about 11 hours remaining in the shift. Crews from both ambulances at the station were catching up on reports from the day and eating dinner while watching “The Biggest Loser,” a competition they recently mirrored among themselves (Bell won).

EMS will look at the new schedule in six months and again in a year to see how well its working for the staff.

“It’s been pretty exhausting, but not every shift’s like this,” Frizzell said.