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Dear Editor:
There’s a unique perspective of the coronavirus pandemic that is often overlooked: The health and safety of first responders who bring the patients into the hospitals. Like our brave nurses and doctors, firefighters and EMS responders’ brave unsafe conditions to save the lives of others.
Those who respond to 9-1-1 emergencies, like me, are ever ready. It’s in our DNA. We understand our job’s expectations, often times in matters of life and death, and understand there are no timeouts, no holidays, and of course, no shutdowns.
However, there’s a different side to us once we clock out: Our actual lives. My wife and I have two young daughters, and I currently have parents in their 60s, one of which has COPD and both have come from a life’s worth of public service (father, 28-year veteran firefighter; mother 40-year health care provider). So while I have been taught to never fear the unexpected at work, we have not been ready for the side effects this pandemic would have on our personal lives – and our own fight to protect the safety of our families we love most.
That’s why this extra burden hangs over our heads. We take every precaution possible, but I’ll tell you, we have consistently lacked adequate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for most of this pandemic. We have often found ourselves going more than a month reusing the same N95 masks we were handed in mid-March. Some of my coworkers contracted the virus, placing another burden on healthy staff to step up and work overtime. I have frequently been one of those firefighters stepping up to the challenge while still remaining concerned that I may possibly put my family at risk.
This is a fact: Fire and EMS departments across Indiana should have ample equipment available for its workforce. We are fighting to protect Hoosiers’ lives, and we deserve to be protected too. But that has not happened, and this negligence must be corrected for the future.
Moving forward, the state must ensure all hospitals and first responders have a reserve of equipment on hand, like adequate PPE, at all times. That way, first responders bringing patients into the hospitals would have the same level of protection and readily available replacements when necessary. Also, uniformed testing must be universally available for all first responders, a policy where I believe the state has failed us from the onset of this pandemic.
Our state’s leaders were not forward-thinking during this health crisis, and their bare minimum response now placed a huge burden on families of doctors, nurses and first responders like mine. Hoosiers deserve political leaders who truly understand the fundamentals of public service, not just the toplines. My experience as a firefighter and commitment to the public is what I’ll bring to the Indiana State Senate.
Ronnie Saunders
Westfield
Firefighter, Candidate for Indiana State Senate District 20
Learn more about Ronnie Saunders at saundersforindiana.com.