April 6, 2020 at 3:33 p.m.
RFD dedicates one ambulance for transporting possible COVID-19 patients
RFD dedicates one ambulance for transporting possible COVID-19 patients
Last week, RFD Chief Terry Williams showed the modified ambulance alongside the others for comparison and explained how the EMTs are adjusting to the challenges posed by the highly infectious disease.
The converted ambulances has all of the supplies and instruments needed for a respiratory situation stored in a plastic tote and the inside walls have been covered in plastic sheeting. This makes it much easier and faster to decontaminate the vehicle after each run.
The department is using a regular air-powered automotive paint sprayer and a solution containing 70-75 percent isopropyl alcohol to spray down the sheeting and gurney, Williams said.
"But when we do, we have to wear the mask and a Tyvek suit," Williams said. "And, because we're spraying a flammable in there, we also have a charged hand line to protect whoever is spraying."
Williams said sending two ambulances on medical runs may seem like overkill, but having an ambulance where the inside can be sanitized in a matter of minutes, compared to hours for a regular rig," is very beneficial.
"It is so much easier to decontaminate this ambulance, and it's so much safer for not only my personnel, but for the public. The public knows that when they are getting transported in one of our ambulances, it is 100 percent sanitized in between each patient," Williams said. "There is so many nooks and crannies in the normal ambulance that it would take us five hours to sanitize that ambulance."
Williams said he ordered an UV (ultraviolet) light for the ambulances back in March that was supposed to be here "in 2 to 3 weeks," but are likely going to take longer to arrive.
"I can put the UV light in the back of the ambulance and it will sanitize the entire thing," Williams said. "We don't have that capability, so we did a lot of research and the one thing I will caution is we are using an automotive paint sprayer which uses compressed air. There's a lot of YouTube videos out there where people are using Wagner power sprayers to spray the alcohol, and you're now spraying a flammable liquid with an ignition source in your hand."
In the course of their research, the firefighters learned that Wagner power sprayers cannot be used with any chemical with a flashpoint below 100 degrees, Williams explained.
"When we get a medical call now, we're running with two ambulances, and based on criteria from the CDC, if the patient exhibits signs of COVID-19, we're using this rig for transporting that patient because everything is sealed off and we can sanitize that rig," Williams said.
Once the EMTs get back to the station, they take off their boots and leave them outside where they are sprayed with the sanitizer and then they take a shower and change.
"Somebody that didn't go on that call then sanitizes that whole rig," Williams said. "It's definitely like decontamination."
Williams said that unless another call comes in while those two EMTs are in the washing up stage, another team would take that rig out. Otherwise, the same team stays with the rig for the duration of their shift. He also said the dispatch center has been helping determine runs may require the COVID rig.
"We get a heads up from dispatch. Dispatch is asking questions and really doing an outstanding job of relaying that information to us so we're better prepared on these calls," Williams said. "The reasons we're making it a dual call is we can't make that determination when we're leaving the station if it's a suspected COVID case. When we get on scene, we're sending one person that has full PPE (personal protective equipment) in to do what we call a doorway survey where they can start asking some of these questions from the door of the room the patient is in. If it (COVID-19) is suspected, we take extra measures on PPE. If it's a 'I sprained my ankle' kind of thing and we can determine that from the door by the questions, we can lose some of the PPE, but we're wearing the same PPE we would regularly wear."
On each call the EMTs make, they either leave information on how to stop the spread of coronavirus as well as the symptoms of COVID-19 with someone at the residence or the patient. This information includes phone numbers to call with health related issues at Ascension Saint Mary's Hospital or Aspirus Clinic.
The cost of the materials used to convert the ambulance for COVID-19 patients were not included in the fire department or ambulance service budgets.
"A lot of this is our normal PPE, we're just using way more of it then we normally would," Williams said.
He said the federal government has already announced that there will be reimbursement for items bought specifically as a result of pandemic.
"Anything we're spending right now strictly due to COVID, we're tracking separately so we turn that in in the end," Williams said.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at jamie@rivernews online.com.
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