A paramedic and a fire captain from the Upper Pine Fire Protection District in Bayfield traveled to Del Rio in southwestern Texas on Saturday to provide relief to emergency medical services workers as the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelms local resources.
Paramedic John Haner and fire captain Andy Miller left for the COVID-19 hot spot Friday morning for a 30-day deployment, where they will replace local emergency medical services and fire protection workers who have been working for months straight, said Bruce Evans, chief of the Upper Pine Fire Protection District.
Three paramedics and an EMT from the Delta County Ambulance District joined Haner and Miller to boost responder resources in Texas. The rapidly growing number of COVID-19 cases in Del Rio requiring hospitalization is stressing local health care and emergency response systems, and the town is making use of any resource available.
As of Friday, Val Verde County in Texas confirmed more than 588 COVID-19 cases.
Evans said emergency response staff members in Texas are testing positive for COVID-19, so FEMA resources are “moving in to make sure EMS services are maintained.”
The Houston Fire Department lost a fire captain to COVID-19, and several firefighters are in the hospital, Evans said.
Haner and Miller have been on FEMA deployments before and volunteered to go to Texas to help with the situation there.
Both agencies are in a partnership with Global Medical Response, which supplies ambulances and other medical services for disasters. The disaster response partnership is part of a national contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“They try to reach out at least one state away,” Evans said, to avoid creating a large area of overwhelmed emergency response workers.
While it is a contractual obligation, the Upper Pine Fire Protection District had the opportunity to opt out. However, the EMS call volume has been down during COVID-19, so they have the capacity to help, Evans said.
“If we had a wildfire, they would come help us,” Evans said.
The Upper Pine Fire Protection District will receive funding from FEMA for helping with the COVID-19 emergency in Texas.
“The situation in South Texas is not pretty,” Evans said. “It’s definitely a national emergency, and it’s all hands on deck.”
Kirby Clock, manager of the Delta County Ambulance District, said the EMS mission is help people, “whether that’s here or in Texas.”
“In some ways, it’s an adventure; and in other ways, it’s doing what we do,” Clock said.
Haner is leaving behind his black Labrador Riesel behind for the 30-day deployment, but Riesel will be crashing with various Upper Pine Fire Protection District members while Haner is gone.
Miller is a Scotsman with an accent, and with Spanish as a major language in Texas, Evans said he hopes people will be able to understand Miller.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Evans said.
ehayes@durangoherald.com