LOIS KINDLE FILE PHOTO
In the face of the Coronavirus threat, the Sun City Emergency squad has implemented several changes to protect the health and safety of its volunteers and residents of the community.

SCC Emergency Squad makes procedure changes to keep everyone safe

By LOIS KINDLE

In response to the threat of Coronavirus, the Sun City Center Emergency Squad is taking steps to ensure the health of both residents and its volunteers.

The changes the squad has recently implemented involve nearly every aspect of its operation, i.e. the way it handles folks coming to the facility, how dispatch handles calls for assistance and how the crews respond. It’s important for the community to be aware of what the squad is doing and why.

“Because we live in a community deemed vulnerable by age and underlying health conditions, we want to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved,” said Robin Watt, assistant chief of public relations. “Our volunteers are primarily seniors themselves.”

ROBIN WATT PHOTO
SCC Emergency Squad volunteer Robert Bizzano turns on the autoclave after it’s been attached to an ambulance. The machine sprays a fine, antibacterial mist to sterilize the vehicle.

Residents coming to the squad to have their blood pressure checked or to get a cane or walker are still welcome, but now they cannot enter without going through a screening similar to what’s being done at area health care facilities.

The following questions will be asked whenever someone calls or visits the squad:

• Have you traveled outside the country in the past three weeks?

• Have you had contact with anyone who has traveled outside the country in the past three weeks?

• Have you traveled anywhere by train, plane or ship – last 3 weeks?

Additional screening questions will be asked if any answer is yes. If an EMT is available, he or she will ask these questions and determine if its safe for the squad to respond (if an ambulance is available) or if a call to Fire Rescue is required.

If all answers are no, then a resident may enter the building for a cane, walker, wheelchair or blood pressure screening. If an ambulance run is needed, the squad will respond, if it can. If one is not available, a call must go to Fire Rescue.

“Every day we review any alerts and emails from the Department of Health to determine how it affects the squad and what changes we need to make to respond to calls,” said Deputy Chief Tina Drury. “Then we follow through accordingly. For example, the screening questions we ask are questions being asked by dispatchers across the state, not just in our community.”

Residents can be assured the squad will continue to do its job. “We are currently operating as usual, with the only change being the non-response and transport of suspicious Coronavirus patients,” said Chief Mike Bardell. “Given our limited, required supplies and the fact that the age of our crews falls in the high-risk category, we will request Hillsborough Fire Rescue treat and transport these people. This is very unusual time, and we are adjusting our procedures to protect everyone,” he said.

The emergency squad will also continue to respond to calls from skilled nursing and senior living facilities, with the following caveat:

“I’ve talked with all the local facility administrators, regarding our ability to serve them,” Bardell said. “When a nurse calls from one of the nursing homes or assisted living facilities, they have to be able to answer all our questions before we send out an ambulance. This is for our volunteers’ health and safety. If they become exposed or worse still, sick, then our ability to respond to calls will become very limited.”

The squad is also stepping up the schedule of cleaning and sterilizing its vehicles by using its autoclave system to spray a fine, antibacterial mist into the ambulance or wheelchair van. “With this recent virus, we have begun using the autoclave weekly and more often when it’s deemed necessary,” said Dick Schneider, asst. chief of maintenance. “We have also verified with the manufacturer that the solution we use is effective in combating the virus.”

For general information about the COVID-19 virus, please contact the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee at 866-779-6121.