The Augusta Fire Department has begun using personal protective equipment when responding to medical emergency calls to protect patients and firefighters from exposure to the coronavirus.
When dispatch receives a call regarding a medical emergency, additional screening questions will be asked to the patient for possible COVID-19 symptoms or exposure. Emergency calls began to be screened as the number of cases in the area began rising.
“Specific calls that we (put on) personal protective equipment on would be respiratory, high-risk reports, infections, fever. Anyone that has traveled overseas or been in contact with a positive patient and showing the signs and symptoms,” Augusta Fire Department EMS Chief James Kelly said Wednesday at a demonstration of the equipment being used.