First responders working on labor day

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Labor day is the perfect time to sit back, relax, and enjoy time off of work.

But for first responders labor day and other holidays are just like any other day.

First responders like firefighters, nurses, and police are working through the holiday, as they do twenty-four seven, 365 days a year to keep the Yuma community safe and healthy.

Labor Day celebrates the hardworking people who power our country.

Many of them are first responders, who are used to working holidays.

Like one local nurse who says her unit was busier than normal this labor day weekend, with many moms in labor. 

“So you end up doing a lot of weekends or holidays and taking turns, and as your family grows, they get to know that too, sometimes you have to celebrate a special holiday on a different day. It’s kind of ironic that it is labor day weekend because we have been so full, just stretched so thin with so many moms coming in and so many precious babies,” said the NICU charge nurse at YRMC, Lucrecia Mercado.

And firefighter Eric Hatchell has been on the job for two and a half years and says emergencies can happen at any moment. 

“Emergencies, you never know if it’s gonna come in at 6 am in the morning or 9pm at night, so we understand it’s 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day,” said Hatchell, a Rural Metro firefighter.

Both first responders tell me, although they do give up their holidays, they can't imagine doing anything else. 

“I think we’re all in it together, you know it’s just kind of like a brotherhood and sisterhood, a family of caregivers whether you work in law enforcement or border patrol or any other department in the hospital I think you just know that that’s part of what we do,” said Mercado.