ON THE FRONTLINES: Paramedics talk working, training during a pandemic

Paramedics are trained to respond to calls involving heart attacks or even mass casualties—two of the most intense runs they go on—but they’ve never experienced anything like COVID-19.

Lt. Lynn Goodner and Katrina Held serve as paramedics at the Bargersville Community Fire Department. Facing COVID-19 has become part of their daily routines.

"Every day, it could be something new, and every shift, we risk getting exposed to something," Held said. "It’s part of our normal routine now."

‘So much more serious’

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The work they do hasn’t changed. Paramedics are health care professionals who provide treatment, including advanced life support, in emergency situations. They save lives. They are just more proactive in making sure no one is exposed to the incurable disease that’s proven deadly, Held said. They don full personal protective equipment, including masks, gloves and face shields, on most runs now.

When they arrive on scene, one paramedic goes to the door to screen the patient for symptoms before the crew can enter. If the care needed is urgent, they are tasked with speeding up the screening process, Goodner said. 

"We’re always aware when we’re on the job. It’s kind of heightened our awareness now," Goodner said. 

He’s been a paramedic for 12 years, and he’s never dealt with anything like COVID-19, he said.

"I’ve been on a few mass casualty runs before … this (COVID-19) is unprecedented for a lot of people," he said. "We’ve taken precautions during flu season, but not to this extent. This is so much more serious."

Training takes a turn

Training has also changed during the pandemic.

Josh Syrett is preparing to be a paramedic at Franciscan Health’s EMS Education Program on the southside of Indianapolis.

Being a first responder is in his blood, he said. Syrett grew up in Colchester, England where his grandfather works for the local fire department and his mother is a nurse. Together, they inspired him to become a paramedic. In 2018, he moved to Indiana with his wife who is from Kokomo, he said.

About a year into the 14-month training program, Syrett’s training took a turn when the COVID-19 pandemic made its way to central Indiana in March.

"All of a sudden, they told us not to come to class and to stop our clinicals," he said. "About a week later, we were told we would continue, but in an online format."

Paramedic training online wasn’t easy, Syrett said. Learning to become a first responder requires a lot of hands-on experience and more than 1,000 hours of clinical training.

"It was hard to then motivate myself through online learning, and some of it was through teaching ourselves," Syrett said. 

Syrett returned to in-person classes about two weeks ago, but in a different format. He now works in groups of about eight students versus his class of 25, he said. 

Part of Syrett’s training allows him to go on runs with the Beech Grove Fire Department. So he has seen firsthand what it’s like on the frontlines right now, he said.

At first, Syrett said, they experienced hostility from some patients for wearing PPE in their homes. But that changed over time as the virus became more widespread.

"People thought that we were being over the top with all these precautions that we were taking," he said.

Work-life balance during a pandemic

For others who are training to become a paramedic, or who may want to become one someday, Held’s advice is to not let COVID-19 turn them away, she said. 

"I don’t think there’s extra risk just because we had something new come on," Held said. "There’s always been risk involved with this field, and we’re just coming to the forefront now because COVID-19 is new."

Taking risks is part of being a paramedic. While their job is to save other people’s lives, they also have to work to protect their own families.

"Trying to keep my family safe at home and still trying to do my job, that’s probably where my biggest stressor has been," Goodner said. 

Mass fear of COVID-19 comes from the unknowns that are associated with it, Held said. But she doesn’t let that fear convince her to lose sight of caring for her patients, she said.

"We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that we’re treating something because we are also concerned that they may have COVID-19," Held said. "We don’t want to get so tunnel-visioned on (this virus) that we miss other things."