I was coming up on 14 years in EMS. I had burned out several times over, nearly at 5 year intervals. The last couple of years I'd been on a 24 hour unit in order to earn enough overtime to help build our emergency fund and get our debt down to the house mortgage only. I had a great partner, which helped reduce the stressful side of the job. Still, each shift meant 16 calls on average. No station and any rest came in occasional 15 minute intervals. I felt like I was aging at twice a normal rate.