The Collect Call

These are trying times for the "canaries". The Paramedics now standing ten feet away from every 9-1-1 patient with a list of questions that are hopefully understood. Maybe there's a language barrier. Maybe the patient lies about travel because they feel they will get less than stellar care (this is happening). Or the patient who passes screening with flying colors and it turns out they're carrying it anyways and we spend half an hour in a small box with them less than protected.

But the silver lining in all of this is that we are learning and will have learned a valuable lesson. And it's imperative we carry it forward after this is behind us. And that's to utilize the glasses and gowns and masks that are sitting there for us previously collecting dust. Admittedly before this outbreak I actually can't even remember the last time I donned an N95 mask. And I imagine many of us can probably say the same thing. Some are hypervigilant - many are not. But as we continue this battle in the trenches, when we come out on the other side it's important that we don't become complacent and nestle back into a zone of disregard. Yeah an N95, a gown, a mask, glasses may seem like overkill for every cardiac arrest patient. But is a little bit of time and sweat not worth avoiding bringing a terrible burden home to you and your family?

When we get through this - and we will get through this - pretend like it's still there. Because there's shit that's already out there that has been around forever, and there's new shit that will inevitably come our way again. Gown up, mask up. This is our collect call from safety. And we better be willing to accept the charges.