Study of DCSO deputies’ rotating shifts seeks to improve their health
(Update: Adding video, comments from Deschutes County SO lieutenant)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with a physician from St. Charles to study whether having deputies work frequently rotating shifts has a negative impact on their health.
Rapidly rotating work shifts consist of a pattern of two days of work, one day off, then two night shifts, followed by four days off. The effects of moving from working dayside to nightside every few days is what's being analyzed.
This study is a small part of a bigger wellness program created by Sheriff Shane Nelson. The Health of the Force initiative is a program designed to help improve the physical and mental health of the deputies. It incorporates physical, spiritual, and emotional elements to deal with the traumas that go on with police work.
Sheriff's Lt. Chad Davis said, “Part of the sleep study is to look at their blood pressure, their weight, examine their sleep during this time, to see what the effects are, and if there are benefits to working straight shifts, as opposed to the rotating shifts-- and to see how they physically feel.”
A total of 19 sworn employees are involved in the sleep trial. Here's how it’ll work:
- First, St. Charles collected baseline health data on each officer while they were working the rapidly rotating shift schedule.
- In mid-January, about half of those 19 officers started working all days, and the rest started working all nights. They will do that for about two months, and then collect the same baseline data.
- After two months, the two groups will trade shifts and collect data again.
- Near the end of the trial, Dr. Dave Dedrick and two partners – Dr. Mark Backus of Cascade Internal Medicine Partners and Dr. Richard MacDonnell of MyMD Personal Medicine – will analyze the data and then hand it over to a statistician to “grind the numbers,” Dedrick said.
The sheriff's office also received a federal Department of Justice grant of more than $111,000 to be used for its peer support program, which provides employees with an opportunity to receive physical psychological and emotional support in times of personal or professional crisis. It will also be used to provide training and technology to members of the peer support team, as well as therapy referrals.
Sheriff's Sgt. Jayson Janes said in a report to Sheriff & Deputy magazine that the program is among needed changes in order to better serve the community and keep deputies' healthy while ensuring county residents feel and are safe.
Dedrick has also previously worked with the Bend Police Department on their own wellness program. He said some may find the rotating shifts appealing, while others may see it as incompatible with a well-balanced life.
You can find more information about the study at: https://www.stcharleshealthcare.org/news/study-looks-how-shift-work-affects-health
It would improve the rest of the countys health even more, to finally remove the racist flag off the back of the dcso trucks, comrade nelson has to the last sheriff in the hemisphere to still pretend its appropriate
You are absolutely one Dumb SOB, thin blue line never has had any correlation to racism.
Thin blue line = blue lives matter = racism, go do a five second image search duh, you’ll then be smarter than sheriff nelson too 🤠
You get your opinions from Google Image searches? OMG that just made my day:)
Well that was easy, glad i could help! Anything to get folks researching why nelson insists on keeping racist political symbols even as other local depts remove them, its a big problem yet such a simple solution!
you are the only racists I’m reading here.
And all three of your comments here, have typos indicative of non-native english skills, ouch
I guess you must also refer to fire / EMS as racists because of their “thin Red line” flag.
When they start painting big illegal photoshopped black flags on the ambulances lets talk lol… until then the only one making such a dumb self-inflicted mistake anymore is sheriff nelson, as usual
Hmmm…
DCSO just hired 2 new black employees and one Hispanic…
In conjunction with its very positive relationship with the Central Oregon Black Leadership Assembly…
While the Bend/LaPine school district again “went white” over a qualified and experienced black female educator…
And Chief Krantz at BPD, who caved in to loons like you, hasn’t brought on any new hires reflecting minority hiring…
And “Blue Lives” reflect all colors, creeds, gender and gender identity, and religious preference…
Perhaps you remain simply fumed that both “Kozo the Bozo” and “Shoot ’em Up Schaier”, your candidates, lost their bids at Sheriff?
huh, thanks for adding this useless comment.
When you see racism everywhere you look……the racist just might be you.
The word is so diluted as to have almost no meaning anyway so have at it, nobody cares.
White silence = white violence, everyone cares but you
That is one of the lamest jingles going –
One day you will be properly identified and it will be no surprise once that truth comes to light.
Excellent.
The DCSO program is far more comprehensive than is Bend PD’s – as a result of several years of study, research, and inter-agency discussions nationwide.
The benefits of such programs are well documented.
Yes moving our county law enforcement into the 21st century is long overdue, sadly thats why these sheriffs always appoint their successor instead of allowing an open election 🙄
I’m confused. You frequently post racist comments and support violence against women in your posts. Why d you care about this?
Sounds like you already know the answer 😉
Yet, another stupid comment
I can save a lot of money. Yes switching from night shift to day shift frequently is bad for health. Now fix it.
Hmmm, this type of shift work has been in practice by first responders for decades. And there are literally thousands of studies on the topic; why do we need to waste taxpayer money on this?
Are you saying nelson is bad at his job?
No, I am saying this is a waste of money. That typed, YES!!! The Evil Sheriff Shane is a disgrace as posted here many times!!
So you dont like sheriff nelson OR his critics?
Apparently, the majority disagree with you. He was re-elected by an overwhelming majority of the voters.
I’d like to know why is KTVZ letting BLM/Antifa robots keep posting to the comment board?
This is the demonrat logic. Down is up and up is down. Most 4th grade children with common sense can figure it out.
As someone who worked every imaginable shift during an almost 40-year LE career (35 with DCSO, and a four-year military career prior to the LE career) …5-8’s (day/swing/graveyard, three months at a time), 4-10-s, and the (current) split 12’s, I can’t begin to express how hard those split-12’s were!
Coming home at 6am after working all night… kids getting ready for school, doing their best to “not wake Daddy” and often failing, wife getting ready for work. Getting subpoenaed for a 9:30 AM court appearance after a night shift(6p-6a), sitting around n court for several hours, then being told you “weren’t needed after all”, and going home and trying to get some sleep before that second night shift. Getting home at 6am after a 12er, FINALLY getting to sleep, only to have the rock knocker developing a new lot down the street wake you up. Having a “day sleeper, please do not ring bell” sign on the front door and having people peddling who knows what simply ignore the sign and ring the bell or bang on the door anyway…
When I went in to do a sleep study some years ago, I answered “yes” to 14 out of 15 pre-screen questions. A month after I had the actual sleep study (all wired up and monitored over night), the sleep doc said, very bluntly, “You’re a disaster area waiting for a place to happen…” The study showed I got MAYBE 2-2.5 hours of actual REM sleep due to sleep apnea and snoring. Elevated blood pressure, mid-shift headaches, running out of “gas” with three or four hours still to go in a given shift. A CPAP certainly helped but didn’t cure all the other issues…
Couple that with eating on the run while working (“gobble and go”), often eating fast food (quick and portable…and no doughnut jokes, please!) and constantly feeling like you were sleep deprived…not to mention having your circadian rhythm ALL out of whack…it’s no wonder why cops (not to mention nurses, fire fighters and other emergency service workers) have a lower life expectancy than the rest of the population.
The first day or two off, you were just a lump…awake but not a whole lot of energy to get motivated to do much other than try and recover and just “vegetating”…working out was a challenge due to low energy.
Yeah, I know, I know…for all you naysayers who are tempted to pipe in and say,, “Oh boo hoo…you CHOSE your profession…”, aren’t you glad that some folks DID make those sacrifices so that when you need help, someone is available to respond? While I have few regrets, I do often wonder the price of “wear and tear” from all those years of crazy shift work.
Now that I’m retired, my time is my own. I’m much healthier, sleep better, eat better and overall, my attitude is much more optimistic…which my wife, my kids and my grandkids certainly appreciate!