It’s not surprising that some of the people most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are local emergency responders, especially those in emergency medical services.

Dallas County EMS Director Mike Thomason says their department and most around the state began preparing for the outbreak in Iowa long before community spread began. He says they wanted to make sure they had the staffing and resources at the ready for when crew members got sick and the call volume went up. Thomason feels they’ve responded well to the local viral impact, and he says now it’s about sustaining that level of readiness as the pandemic continues.

To that end, he says the department has changed a lot of their protocols, putting a focus on cleanliness and reusable personal protective equipment. “So (it’s been) a little bit of change of lifestyle for the crew, because they’re now showering and washing clothes after every COVID call, as opposed to before where you just change your gloves. (Also, tracking) longevity of PPE’s, making sure that we try to keep what we can clean, try to sterilize what we can sterilize, and what we have to dispose of, track it for a burn rate. And try to make sure that we have some sort of source to get more of it.”

To hear more from Thomason on how Dallas County EMS is handling COVID-19, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program on air and at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.