Emergency workers taking extra precautions

While city facilities remain closed to the general public, emergency workers, who still need to be out in the field and working with the public, are working to limit their potential exposure to covid-19.

Fire Chief Steve Sims said the department is working closely with dispatch to screen calls for potential covid-19 patients and following the Center for Disease Control and Arkansas Department of Health guidelines.

The department’s work is mostly business as usual, but with extra precautions, he said.

If dispatch is sending emergency medical workers to a potential covid-19 patient, they take extra precautions and use additional personal protective equipment, he said.

“We’re gowning up, gloves on, goggles on, N95 masks,” Sims said.“We’re doing an extensive decon on the ambulance after each call that we go on that’s a possible covid-19.”

These precautions are important to keep responders and patients safe, but they put an extra strain on the service. Ambulances are out of service for another hour, roughly, for decontamination, while responders who may have been exposed need to immediately wash their clothes, take a shower and begin an isolation period, he said.

It’s also a source of additional stress, he said.

“You don’t normally go on these calls having to think about this and think about the seriousness of it,” he said.

Sims urged members of the public to stay safe, practice handwashing and generally good hygiene and limit their exposure to the general public. Anyone who feels sick needs to stay home, he said.

The police department is also taking precautions.

Capt. Tim Cook said officers are working to reduce this illness’s potential spread.

“We’re doing everything to limit our exposure,” he said.

When police are called, he said, they’re handling whatever calls they can by phone and, when showing up in person is necessary, keeping a safe distance.

Officers have also been issued personal protective equipment for cases where someone may be ill.

If anyone is in a squad car, it’s immediately cleaned and disinfected afterward, he said.