COVID 19 PUBLIC SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Continuous COVID-19 Information
The New Castle County Fire Chiefs and New Castle County Volunteer Firefighters Associations are once again seeking the public’s assistance during this pandemic. It is imperative that when the public activates the Emergency Medical System (EMS) by calling 911, all pertinent patient information is provided to the 911 call taker and again with the responding EMS, fire and police personnel. Also be advised that your fire & EMS personnel are here to help you with all of your emergency needs.
First responders take precautions on every call based on the information received from dispatchers, the patient or the patient’s family. Extra precautions are taken if the patient has been confirmed positive COVID 19 or states they have symptoms indicative of COVID 19. The increased demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) has forced every emergency organization to perform a balancing act between protecting personnel while attempting to conserve the limited amount of PPE on hand. All of your public safety personnel are under self-quarantine and check their temperature for a fever several times a day.
The stress on our system and personnel is already at an historic level. Adding to that stress by withholding pertinent information unnecessarily exposes our personnel and puts our entire emergency response system in jeopardy.
Again, we implore the public to be open and honest by providing all pertinent patient information to the 911 call taker and again with the responding EMS, fire and police personnel. Residents of all New Castle County can utilize Smart911 [www.smart911.com] to CONFIDENTIALITY create a Safety Profile for their household that includes any information they want 9-1-1 to have in the event of an emergency. Then, when anyone in that household dials 9-1-1 from a phone associated with their Safety Profile, their profile is immediately displayed to the 9-1-1 call taker providing additional information that can be used to facilitate the proper response to the proper location. At a time when seconds count, being able to provide 9-1-1 with all details that could impact response the second an emergency call is placed could be the difference between life and death.
Anyone wanting to contact us please do so at [email protected] with any requests for additional information.
Sincerely,
Dwayne Pearson - President, NCCFCA & Jim Watson - President, NCCVFA