Bluffton EMS calls have dropped since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to Jan Basinger, EMS chief. He reported this information to Bluffton council on April 13.

Basinger said that the EMS staff now wears masks and gloves on every call received. This is the minimum protective clothing worn.

“We send only two EMTs in the squad and follow it with the old police cruiser with one or two additional people as available, to assist the squad if needed,” he said. “This hopefully reduces our staff to the potential exposure to the virus. It also preserves the staffs PPE.”

Basinger said that the current personal protective equipment level is very good.

“All patients have their temperatures checked and have a mask placed on them immediately. As far as staffing, we are all staying healthy and are taking our temperatures daily as we are charting them,"  said the EMS chief.

“Our staffing is down due to the fear of taking home the virus to family members, but we are handling it okay at this time,” he said. “We have six to eight persons handling most of the calls.”

Over the mast month EMS chiefs in Allen County and the county EMA, board of health and hospital EMS mangers have met on Zoom two or three times each week to discuss changes and recommendations dealing with COVID-19.

Basinger said that the meetings are very helpful as the squad makes policy changes to the way it treats patients and the way reporting calls go to the state.

He said that through these meetings the squad learns of potential hot spots for the virus and how the Lima hospitals are dealing with COVID patients.

Currently (as of April 13) the COVID-19 patient census and census of other patients in both Lima hospitals are very low.