HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County EMS continues to work to preserve their personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Dave Johnson with EMS says they have come up with several solutions to make PPE last longer, especially the hard to find N-95 face masks. Johnson says they have come up with several solutions for extending the life of the masks. One is to use cloth masks over the N-95 masks to keep them from getting soiled. Those cloth masks have come from several sources including Hyatt Lifesciences.
They also reuse the masks by placing them in a paper bag and letting them sit for 72 hours along with placing them in an ozone cleaner. Still, the masks do have a limited life span and are only cleaned and reused five times.
Johnson says they also have to be selective on when the use the PPE on runs. EMS continues to work with 911 to screen calls that come in to see if the PPE is needed. Quite often, one person will go into a home or to a scene and screen the patient before the rest of the first responders come in. Of course, in an emergency situation the PPE is worn and no screening is done.
Johnson says, if things stay as they are, they have enough PPE to keep them going for the rest of the month. If a surge in cases or some other emergency would arise, then the supply would run out much sooner.
Johnson says they are working with the hospital to make sure supplies keep coming, but he admitted that they are facing competition for the supplies and the prices for those supplies are inflated.