PPE for LE & Medical professionals

killerpigeon · Apr 27, 2020

I just want to give my view as a paramedic on the streets. I feel that the media, and society, has placed us on a pedestal. Which I'll admit is nice, cause we don't always receive recognition, but has the unintended consequence of treating others that they are not "essential." I think everybody is essential, especially to your loved ones, friends, and the IRS. But right now, we are in a pretty big crisis. We are doing things that have never been done before and I've never seen in my 17 year career, and until we see the light at the end, we must be vigilant and continue to prepare for the worst. In order to achieve our mission, we need certain supplies, like PPE. I can guarantee you we are not wasting it or selling it, heck, I'm regulated one N95 for upwards of two weeks, even after having contact with known positive patients. With that in mind, and cause of our close proximity in the box of an ambulances, with sick people who may or may not have it, it's imperative that we have PPE. If this upsets some people, I'm sorry, but regardless, if you call 911, I'll be ready and prepared, with PPE, to care for you or your loved one.

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Parks 788 · Apr 28, 2020

Yeah, this is an interesting thread to say the least. I get what Mouthpiece is saying and agree with some of it. Some of it I don't. I don't think others think the general population is less important that EMS workers and agree that they should get all the PPE required to work safely and without having to always reuse the same disposable PPE. At the same time, I don't think that EMS should have a monopoly on only them being able to purchase N95 masks at a reasonable price. This is the same for disinfecting wipes. When they are available, just like the masks, it says for essential workers only for purchasing.

Currently, California has a contract to purchase 500 million N95 masks they will get over the next 2-3 months. How many EMS personnel does CA have that require multiple N95 masks every day of the week? Does CA really need that many masks over that short of a time frame? Probably not, all while the general public can't find any to purchase. And there will be none to purchase for the foreseeable future. Same goes for disinfecting wipes. There has got to be a way for the EMS and the general public to purchase the same PPE at a reasonable price with reasonable delivery timelines.

We have a family of three. Currently have enough surgical type masks and disinfecting wipes but they will eventually run out in the next couple months and need to be replenished. We have four N95 masks of which I had to use one for several days last week while traveling to and from Seattle. I came home and put it in the sun on each side for two days to hopefully disinfect if needed. We don't need 100 N95 masks but it would be nice to have my hands on a box of 10 or 20. I don't think that is unreasonable to want to stock. The longer the general public has to wait to get their hands on these types of PPE and sanitizing products because EMS has preference the more will be hoarded when any become available. Current sales policies will lead to more hoarding of these types of items in the future.

dennishoddy · Apr 28, 2020

Parks 788 said:
Yeah, this is an interesting thread to say the least. I get what Mouthpiece is saying and agree with some of it. Some of it I don't. I don't think others think the general population is less important that EMS workers and agree that they should get all the PPE required to work safely and without having to always reuse the same disposable PPE. At the same time, I don't think that EMS should have a monopoly on only them being able to purchase N95 masks at a reasonable price. This is the same for disinfecting wipes. When they are available, just like the masks, it says for essential workers only for purchasing.

Currently, California has a contract to purchase 500 million N95 masks they will get over the next 2-3 months. How many EMS personnel does CA have that require multiple N95 masks every day of the week? Does CA really need that many masks over that short of a time frame? Probably not, all while the general public can't find any to purchase. And there will be none to purchase for the foreseeable future. Same goes for disinfecting wipes. There has got to be a way for the EMS and the general public to purchase the same PPE at a reasonable price with reasonable delivery timelines.

We have a family of three. Currently have enough surgical type masks and disinfecting wipes but they will eventually run out in the next couple months and need to be replenished. We have four N95 masks of which I had to use one for several days last week while traveling to and from Seattle. I came home and put it in the sun on each side for two days to hopefully disinfect if needed. We don't need 100 N95 masks but it would be nice to have my hands on a box of 10 or 20. I don't think that is unreasonable to want to stock. The longer the general public has to wait to get their hands on these types of PPE and sanitizing products because EMS has preference the more will be hoarded when any become available. Current sales policies will lead to more hoarding of these types of items in the future.

Soak em in some pure grain alcohol, squeeze out the excess or leave it in for a cheap high and they will be disinfected. LOL
Seriously, Sunlight does contain UV-C, but I haven't researched the value of leaving them in the sun as a disinfectant. Have you?

Parks 788 · Apr 28, 2020

Dennis, I have not researched the UV from the sunlight killing the virus but heard many years ago that leaving items in the sun was a good disinfect to kill/sterilize things as well as take the smell out of stinky things. Either way, I won't need the mask anytime in the next week or two so even if the sunlight didn't kill any virus on my mask it should be dead by the time I have to wear it gain.

dennishoddy · Apr 28, 2020

Parks 788 said:
Dennis, I have not researched the UV from the sunlight killing the virus but heard many years ago that leaving items in the sun was a good disinfect to kill/sterilize things as well as take the smell out of stinky things. Either way, I won't need the mask anytime in the next week or two so even if the sunlight didn't kill any virus on my mask it should be dead by the time I have to wear it gain.

The reason I asked is because I just had a whole house UV-C system added to our home after a year of living with bottled water from last years floods infecting our water well with E-coli that we couldn't seem to disinfect.
UV-C disrupts the DNA of bacteria like E-coli so it can't reproduce so I was wondering if it did the same thing with a virus?

killerpigeon · Apr 29, 2020

I can understand the thought process. I do agree that EMS personal shouldn't have a monopoly. Things have totally changed though. Where as before, I maybe used an N95 mask once or twice a month at most during flu season, we're now using it 4-6 times a day. Times that by around 600 EMSA crew members just in OKC and Tulsa, and the numbers get staggering. Now times that by all the other EMS agencies, fire departments, and the needed PPE becomes overwhelming. I think also the big reason we're needing so much is we don't know who's sick. In my career, I've always been able to see somebody from across the room and know if I need to don my PPE. It's called the "doorway assessment" in the EMS field. With this COVID, unfortunately, everybody has it til proved otherwise. I'm by no means trying to insult anybody's intelligence here or talk down to people, but being on the front lines of this thing is scary and I don't always feel I have all the right equipment I need to protect myself, my family, or the general public. There has been a couple "eye openning" points in my career. One was when I was working in Colorado during the Swine flu pandemic (H1N1). We were down to less than 50 ventilators in the whole Denver metro area and had just received a shipment of much needed supplies. In the shipment was boxes of adult and kid body bags. That really put things into prospective for me.

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mouthpiece · Apr 29, 2020

On the other side, when gen pop doesn't have mask(yes they can be home made) gloves and sanitizer readily available that they are willing to employ otherwise, it just increases the chance that more gen pop will catch and spread the virus which will drag this out longer requiring ems and popo to use significantly more ppe

We were given 1 mask at work, to use forever

tRidiot · Apr 29, 2020

Leaving masks out in the sunlight could degrade the integrity of the mask, depending on the design and materials. I don't know, but something to consider. Also, similarly, UV light 'sterilization' could do the same. Also, sterilization with some chemicals. Just saying.

bigred1 · Apr 29, 2020

tRidiot said:
Leaving masks out in the sunlight could degrade the integrity of the mask, depending on the design and materials. I don't know, but something to consider. Also, similarly, UV light 'sterilization' could do the same. Also, sterilization with some chemicals. Just saying.

I thought I read where you could put the masks in an oven and kill the virus. Is that not true Doc?

PPE for LE & Medical professionals

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