First responders practice safety changes amid COVID-19 concerns

Police, Fire, and Paramedics are the first people on the scene when an emergency situation takes place.

Now, amid coronavirus concerns are taking extra steps to keep themselves safe and the patients they respond to.

Those on the front lines of medical emergencies are taking extra steps to keep themselves safe and the patients they respond to.

I talked with local first responders who discussed the changes and plans they have to keep the community safe.

Police..

Fire..

And paramedics are the first people on the scene when an emergency situation takes place.

"if someone falls out of a tree and breaks their arm we are going to respond to that the same we would two weeks ago..if you call in and say i have the flu or i feel like i've got a fever they are going to ask some of those questions to kind of dial that in a little bit."- need the questions deputy need is referring to are what dispatch will be asking people if they call 9-1-1.

Those questions will include what symptoms a patient has and if the patient has a fever.

If those symptoms match that of which the cdc considers potential for coronavirus... then the dispatcher will ask if the patient has come in contact with someone who has tested for positive coronavirus.

Depending how someone answers those questions will determine how ems responders.

"we are going to limit the amount of responders that are going to come in to your residence.

They are going to try and keep that distance that we are all familiar with..

Get a face mask on to you and then they will start doing their assessment."- need the west lafayette police department is following the same guidelines.

"we are still screening our calls through our dispatch center following the same protocol as the fire department we will only respond to calls with serious bodily injury."-chief harris however..

If a coronavirus case were to pop up in tippecanoe county... first responders are ready.

"at this point in time we have no made any runs with this truck but it's designed for that usage it is mainly wrapped in plastic on the inside so it minimizes and infection that could take place."-john zartman ems director this is the ambulance.

Zartman was talking about..

The plastic makes it easier to disinfect the vehicle..

If they were to transport a patient with covid-19.

However first responders want to remind the public that they will respond the same to life threatening situations.

"if it's a life threatening emergency like a heart attack or you can't breath those sort of things ems crews are going to be there the same way they would have been two weeks ago."-need the county health department and the emergency operations center does have a team in place if a covid-19 case were to come to tippecanoe county as of today there have been no positive cases identified in our immediate area.

Newton county sheriff's office is looking