Celebrating EMS Week in a ‘very different and stressful time’

Last week was National EMS week, a week set aside annually to honor emergency medical services agencies — the trained first responders who rush to the aid of the sick and injured, providing life-saving, expert medical services in the field and en route to hospitals.

But this year, National EMS Week arrived in the midst of a global viral pandemic, at a time when the peak of the outbreak had just passed in Suffolk County.

The pandemic stretched health care systems to the breaking point throughout much of the region. And the virus required EMS to adjust and sometimes overhaul their protocols — often on the fly.

It created “a very dynamic and ever-changing environment,” Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps Assistant Chief Mike Caron said.

“We saw our role kind of take a different turn during this pandemic, requiring us to perform things we’d never done before, changing the way we operate as new information was coming out,” he said. “It’s been a very stressful and different time for us.”

Caron said RVAC’s regular call volume has been down, especially “the minor things” for which the ambulance corps is often called in ordinary times.

“The calls now are of a more serious nature,” Caron said. “The ER is needed for life-saving interventions.”

The “busiest agency east of the William Floyd Parkway” — RVAC responded to 4,514 calls last year — has had to adapt its protocols for pandemic safety without sacrificing response time.

“In our game, speed has always been the key,” Caron said. “We must get the rig back in service quickly.”

Now, crews conduct a thorough disinfecting process after every call, he said. And they have to do it “quickly and efficiently.”

Stony Brook University and Suffolk County EMS offered services for decontamination early in the crisis, Caron said.

“Then we were able to put a system in place in-house, where we could do it on our own,” he said. They use an air compressor and paint sprayer to fog the vehicles with a commercial disinfectant.

Also, RVAC has been “very aggressive when it came to personal protection since this first started,” Caron said.

Members are not only donning PPE on every call, they are also wearing masks inside RVAC headquarters, he said.

“We’re checking everybody’s temperature on every shift.”

New practices have definitely minimized the risk of infection, Caron said. The corps has so far escaped the pandemic unscathed in terms of member infections.

“It’s a new normal,” Caron said. “This is the way we’re operating now.”

The assistant chief said the “big story” is how the Riverhead community has rallied around the ambulance corps and Peconic Bay Medical Center and all the first responders.

“People really rally and come together when it matters,” Caron said.

Peconic Bay Medical Center president and CEO Andrew Mitchell agreed. The outpouring of support from the community has been amazing, he said.

Mitchell had only praise for the EMS.

“I’ve always been incredibly impressed with the skill sets dedication and talent of our volunteer EMS providers and their collaboration with the residents of our community and our hospital staff,” Mitchell said.

“In this particular year as we celebrate EMS week, we all need to recognize the incredible dedication and lifesaving work they have provided during the COVID emergency,” Mitchell said. “I think they all deserve very special recognition from all of us who sometimes take it for granted that they are available 24/7/365.”