Wheatland EMS cautious against COVID-19

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The county’s emergency medical services organization is enacting additional control measures to better respond to situations involving the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
Wheatland EMS responds to thousands of emergency calls each year. Now with the number of COVID-19 cases throughout Alberta increasing, the organization has boosted its precautions to better protect staff and residents from the virus, said Kevin Link, Wheatland EMS paramedics operations manager.
“We want to make sure our staff are more prepared if they are responding to an event with patients presenting with COVID-19,” said Link.
The organization already had in place what is called universal precaution, which is an approach to infection control that treats all human blood and certain bodily fluids as if they pose significant risk, such as being infected with a virus.
However, given the nature of COVID-19, additional precautions were deemed necessary, he said.
“The difference now is we are worried this will become more prevalent, more deadly, and more contagious,” said Link.
Staff will respond to high-risk calls with full personal protective equipment, including N95 masks, goggles, face shields, gloves and disposable gowns.
Wheatland EMS will ask patients to wear a mask if they are coughing so they don’t transmit the virus into the air.
Treatment protocols have been adjusted to minimize risk, said Link. For example, medications that would normally be given as a nebulized preparation, meaning a mist that is inhaled into the lungs, will be administered via other means.
“We want to avoid medications like that,” said Link. “We would never withhold a medication, but we have other options (of delivery).”
Wheatland EMS employs a rigorous disinfection protocol, which includes a hydrogen peroxide atomizer that is placed in each ambulance daily to disinfect its interior, and a disinfectant boot mat so viruses are not tracked into the facility.
Wheatland EMS is dispatched through the Alberta Health Services EMS Southern Communication Centre, which will be requesting patients to complete a COVID-19 surveillance tool to assess the risk of harbouring the virus. If the patient is deemed to be high risk of having COVID-19, the emergency response crew will receive a safety alert, indicating the need to “gown up and put on all our personal protective equipment prior to entering the residence,” said Link.
The EMS facility has been closed to the public to better enforce social distancing, said Link, who added that residents looking to stay informed can follow the Wheatland EMS Facebook page.