Huntsville Ambulance Service Ready for Coronavirus if Needed

They Have Special Gear and are Getting a New Disinfectant

"you're going to see more cases ... unfortunately you're going to see more deaths.

But that doesn't mean we should panic."

The surgeon general - urging you not to panic when it comes to the coronavirus.

With more than 400 reported cases of the covid-19 in the united states, agencies across the state of alabama are preparing for the first case to come to our state.

Thanks for joining us tonight - im megan reyna.

And im will robinson smith.

I talked with paramedics with huntsville emergency medical service inc or hemsi.

They told me they're following guidelines from the centers for disease control - and they're ready if someone shows symptoms of covid-19.

Around shift change time, at the main office for huntsville emergency medical services inc., emt's and paramedics are busy making sure they have everything they need for a night of responding to emergencies and medical calls.

Chief operating officer dea calce says for the past month they've also been preparing for something else: dealing with covid-19.

Dea calce, coo, hemsi we've been working with our dispatch center to implement a special protocol called the 'emerging infectious disease tool.'

And that helps us identify anybody who's been traveling to countries that have been affected by covid-19 or maybe been in close contact with somebody who's had covid-19.

Will robinsno-smith right now the protective equipment i'm wearing, the gloves, gown, face shield and n95 respirator are what the cdc recommends for paramedics, if they encounter a patient who may have symptoms of covid-19.

And while hemsi is not going to need go to this level of protective equipment , they do have multiple other levels that they can go to, if the cdc recommends they raise the threshold of protective equipment.

Soon, hemsi will be receiving a new kind of disinfectant that will make cleaning ambulances even faster.

Dea calce, coo, hemsi this is just kind of an upgraded way to disinfect and ambulance and we're expecting that to be here within maybe two to three weeks.

Calce says because hemsi has trained for other disease outbreaks before, like with ebola, paramedics are ready to deal with covid-19.

Dea calce, coo, hemsi the preparation is slightly different, but the principles of preparing to deal with an infectious patient are the same.

Calce says if they encounter someone who hasn't traveled to a country or area known to have covid-19 patients, they have a checklist of symptoms to evaluate if a patient has the right symptoms. if they do, they will use their ppe while transporting that person to a part of huntsville hospital equipped to