{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/primegraveyardshift","webpackCompilationHash":"46924986a792e4a723a9","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"headline":"The Night Shift","author":"Kathryn Sarkissian","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.graveyardshift/image/1mHhnLhtidkPqE_LZbKFqssRzv1qK0Y2d/","covercred":"Photos by Chenrui Zhang. Illustrations by Evanceline Tang.","coveralt":"Photograph of Sean Xiong, an EMT, standing in front of an ambulance.","articleType":"article","updated":"","content":[{"type":"text","value":"It’s 10 p.m."},{"type":"text","value":"Most of campus has gone home for the day, but Sean Xiong, a fourth-year bioengineering student, is just clocking in for his shift with UCLA Emergency Medical Services. Inside, the station is quiet. Emergency medical technicians sit at computer stations finishing patient care reports, the soft clatter of keyboards filling the space between calls. Donning navy blue uniforms with walkie-talkies clipped to their hips, they sit in a stillness that doesn’t quite feel like rest. Their alertness never fully switches off."},{"type":"text","value":"Xiong is part of UCLA EMS, a group of first responders that includes a handful of UCLA students who have undergone rigorous training to work as EMTs. Before the founding of UCLA EMS, which is housed inside UCPD building, UCLA police officers responded to medical calls and rushed into ambulances. But in the early 1980s, student employees began filling that role. The program has since grown into one of the most respected collegiate basic life support EMS programs in the country, according to the UCPD website."},{"type":"text","value":"It’s a world that feels almost hidden – an underground network of student healthcare workers. By day, they’re full-time STEM students. By night, they’re first responders."},{"type":"text","value":"Welcome to the night shift."},{"type":"text","value":"As Xiong makes his way to the desk, he relieves Mattia Zefran, a fourth-year biochemistry student and fellow EMT, of his work. Nathaniel Liu, his partner for the night, has already been on duty since 3 p.m. and won’t clock out until 7 a.m. the next morning. All EMTs are expected to work night shifts. In fact, Liu said most EMTs are thrown into them within their first few weeks on the job."},{"type":"largeimageC","value":"{\"alt\":\"A picture of EMS workers in uniform answering calls sitting at office cubicles.\",\"url\":\"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.graveyardshift/image/1XN4bMNqqyuBIX_MczjrVV6FaSkVB7YRT/\",\"credit\":\"Chenrui Zhang/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Before fully signing off, a day shift EMT is escorted to the ambulance for a ride back to their apartment. Inside the empty ambulance, the urgency of the night briefly dissolves into something quieter. The same vehicle that blares sirens and hosts lifesaving procedures now moves through the empty UCLA streets in near silence. The interior hums softly, equipment secured along the walls and red and white lights casting a muted glow across the cabin."},{"type":"text","value":"To the right, an oxygen tank. To the left, an intubation kit. In front, an empty gurney."},{"type":"text","value":"\"With this job, you’re seeing people at their worst moments and being able to help someone and get them to a place where they feel better,\" Xiong said. \"It feels like you’re making a real effect on someone’s lives.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Sitting in the back, the ride is less smooth than it looks from the outside. Each turn throws you against the narrow space, the vehicle swaying and making you acutely aware of its weight and speed. The loudest sound isn’t even the engine – it’s the loose set of keys hanging on the side wall, clanging sharply against the metal with every movement."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"It feels like you’re making a real effect on someone’s lives.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Back at the station, lights out starts at 11 p.m. As the hour approaches, the station settles into a quieter rhythm. The initial bustle brought by the start of the shift fades, replaced by long stretches of waiting. A sense of unease and anticipation lingers in the air as Liu explains the five-minute rule."},{"type":"text","value":"\"As soon as we get dispatched, we have to be at the patient or in the general area of the patient within five minutes,\" the fourth-year neuroscience student said."},{"type":"text","value":"Five minutes. That’s all."},{"type":"largeimageC","value":"{\"alt\":\"A picture of an EMS worker in the back of an ambulance.\",\"url\":\"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.graveyardshift/image/1GywgZTWy7UVHf8UQX-92yVo1y2e-jt-q/\",\"credit\":\"Chenrui Zhang/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"With the five-minute rule looming over their heads, the EMTs are always on standby, even when they’re sleeping. Every second counts, so they sleep in full uniform, ready to respond at a moment’s notice. The EMS sleep room is a cramped, windowless space with a bunk bed, a dresser and memorabilia scattered along the walls. On top of the dresser sits an old red landline phone, the kind with a coiled cord and a solid receiver you lift to your ear. Its ring is sharp and old-fashioned, cutting through the silence in the building. Upon picking up the phone, dispatch relays an address and a code."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It’s a rush,\" Liu said."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"You can go into it with the most theory and idea of how it’s going to work, but until you experience it, you’re not going to succeed.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"For Zefran, repeatedly experiencing these night calls has helped him acclimate to the role. Initially, suddenly waking up and immediately responding to a crisis can be both physically and mentally draining. Nonetheless, the task repeats over and over, forcing EMTs to become not just acquainted, but comfortable with the uncomfortable."},{"type":"text","value":"\"You can go into it with the most theory and idea of how it’s going to work, but until you experience it, you’re not going to succeed,\" Zefran said."},{"type":"text","value":"The hours in the station blur together after lights out."},{"type":"text","value":"Time stops feeling like something that moves forward and instead becomes something that just exists in place."},{"type":"text","value":"It makes one wonder if the high stakes translate to high stress. How do these college kids put such heavy responsibilities on their shoulders? Does that kind of pressure make the work feel isolating?"},{"type":"text","value":"Not exactly."},{"type":"text","value":"Xiong explained that working these long shifts naturally brings people closer, as spending countless hours side by side creates a situation where conversation becomes almost unavoidable. This shared experience builds a stronger sense of connection on the job, he said. He pointed to what happens after the calls – informal conversations, structured debriefs – systems in place to process difficult moments together. The work does not end when the call does – it settles into something quieter, something carried collectively."},{"type":"largeimageC","value":"{\"alt\":\"A picture of an ambulance pulling out of a parking lot.\",\"url\":\"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.graveyardshift/image/1zJElPU7liYiy31shDOV9mG-i46tykbUV/\",\"credit\":\"Chenrui Zhang/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"As a matter of fact, the job changes students’ lives outside the station. Zoe Kaiser, a fourth-year physiological science student, said the job has given her a new sense of confidence and helped her feel the pressure of comparison less. For Liu, the skills he’s learned at the job have translated into an ability to stay calm under pressure outside the uniform."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Some shifts are just going to be harder,\" Zefran said. \"You have more difficult patients, you have more stressful calls and that’s just the name of the game.\""},{"type":"text","value":"When asked how he keeps work from following him home, Xiong emphasized the importance of taking time for himself. He explained that spending time with friends or going to the gym helps create distance from the job. These routines give him a way to reset and stay grounded outside of work."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I try to keep a positive mind, go day by day.\" Xiong said."},{"type":"text","value":"Eventually, without a clear shift or signal, the station begins to change."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"You have more difficult patients, you have more stressful calls and that’s just the name of the game.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Light seeps into the building. The banging of doors closing behind people entering the UCPD building becomes more and more frequent. Footsteps return, sharper and closer together, until the stillness of the night starts to give way to movement again."},{"type":"text","value":"Xiong and Liu are still on shift. In a couple minutes, they’ve gone from asleep in bed to typing at the front desk, clocked in. Afterward, Xiong’s day continues – class, studying, maybe sleep squeezed in between. For him, it’s a day like any other day."},{"type":"text","value":"There is no real ending to the shift, no moment where everything stops long enough for Xiong to take a breath. Just a re-entry into activity."}]}},"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"term":"spring26","slug":"prime.graveyardshift"}}}