STEWARTVILLE, Minn. — In the town of Stewartville, just south of Rochester, the impacts of COVID-19 are being felt within the city’s fire department.
"This is not a fact that our staff are scared or they don’t want to respond we just cannot legally respond right now because we have no PPE," said Stewartville Fire Chief Vance Swisher.
Fortunately, the impacts are not related to infections or confirmed cases, it all has to do with the departments access to PPE or personal protective equipment.
"The shortage that we’re seeing across the United States right now with the personal protective equipment is really kind of hindering us from getting them," said Swisher.
The shortage is forcing the city to suspend operations for its team of first responders, until they can get access to it.
The first responders unit, not to be confused with EMT’s, is made up of roughly 35 volunteers, servicing the city of Stewartville and the surrounding townships.
"Generally first responders are able to arrive on scene and provide some preventative care quicker so basically we’re seeing a little bit of a delay in people receiving medical care when they call 9-1-1 with our unit being out of service," said Swisher.
Earlier this month, leaders with the department say they realized the new requirements for p-p-e were much more substantial than they anticipated, considering they already had access to things like N95 masks and goggles.
"The items that we never anticipated or changed quick enough that we weren’t able to acquire it fast enough was the medical shields and the gowns," said Swisher.
Fortunately though, help from within is on the way.
"One of our members of the fire department is able to make medical shields with his 3D printer which are probably as good if not better than some of the commercial ones we’re seeing out there," said Swisher.
While these may be scary times we’re living in city officials say services will still be provided and safety is the city's number one priority.
"Don’t panic during this time you know be it that you have a medical call, services are going to be provided," said Swisher.
"We’re just hoping that the citizens understand that this is a temporary hold and we’ll be back to normal soon," said City Administrator Bill Schimmel.
Leaders with the department say this is the first time in more than 3 decades they’ve had to suspend services.
They hope to have access to the protective gowns by next week.
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The state of Minnesota has set up a hotline for general questions about coronavirus at 651-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903, available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There is also a data portal online at mn.gov/covid19.