By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. —The status of personal protective equipment stocks in Hutchinson and Reno County is still okay for now.
"We've taken the steps to insure that we've slowed our burn rate some," said Reno County EMS director Dave Johnston. "The hospital has been good about acquiring additional PPE. Any opportunity we have to acquire additional reserves, we're certainly going to look for those."
Reno County Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar is pleased with the adjustments made on a countywide basis.
"Depending on the day of the week, we were burning anywhere between 1200 to 1800 sets," Weishaar said. "When I averaged it for the week this past week, we are right around 650. I really commend all the agencies who have stepped up and changed their policies and really started changing how they operate so that they can preserve this and I think we're in good shape, at least for the next 30 days across the county. The only two items that we should be short on would be face shields and we're actively working that, and then disposable gowns have been a challenge to get."
Chuck Welch had similar positive news for Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, though he wasn't as specific as to numbers.
"Our burn rate has significantly improved, with the same methodology described by both the county and the EMS," Welch said. "A lot of it is just making the awareness by our folks that these are tangible items and we need to take care of them. Not that our infection policy or our prevention policy has changed, we're just being more aware and more judicious."
Given the struggles that health care workers across the country have had with obtaining PPE and the fact that we haven't reached the top of the curve yet in Reno County, all the agencies continue to look for opportunities to get more anywhere they can and CDC and local Health Department guidance continue to ask that citizens not use medical grade PPE if possible in order to save it for front line workers.