By Mick Mayers
There is a lot of talk about Ebola and Enterovirus right now. The media has whipped people into a frenzy and inquiring minds want to know.
The reality is that we in your first response community have faced this kind of hysteria in the past. I have been in the fire service long enough to remember the AIDS panic, and every time a mosquito bites me I wonder laughingly if he is carrying West Nile, malaria, or some other vector-borne plague.
It‘s not that I am unconcerned about these issues; it‘s that as a professional, I have learned to keep them in perspective.
If you wonder about how prepared your local responders are to provide care in light of these well-publicized events, I would answer that it really all depends. There really is no mandate that we leap out and purchase all kinds of equipment and other things.
The funds we have used so carefully in the past, lovingly trimmed by those who think that first response is a luxury, only go so far. We in the business must make do with what the community provides us. However, Ebola and Enterovirus, thankfully, are not thinking enemies.
We all need to understand how they are passed, identify the means of stopping that exchange and enforce it through education and vigilance. After all, once the emotion dies down, there will be more than enough individuals who become complacent and end up spreading disease again. This is always the downside of the media moving on to the next big thing.
When I refer to professional first responder, I am referring to those of us who consciously serve the community using best practices, career or volunteer. And these professionals have long known about the threat and had it on their radar.
The minute we began to see the potential for change in our operating picture, we moved it to higher ground and leaned forward. In my community, we were preparing for this weeks in advance of Patient Zero and had been discussing our strategies and examining how we should proceed.
In my community, we put together a group who came up with solutions using the advice of the Centers for Disease Control, we brought in our stakeholder partners, and we shared information. When game plans changed, we were already quick to respond to those challenges.
The funny thing is, when first responders in this nation were being attacked as a waste of funds, and major efforts have been undertaken to reduce support for initiatives like community CPR (heart attacks have killed infinitely more people than Ebola), vehicle safety (car accidents have killed infinitely more people than Ebola), and many other projects, we did these anyway, because we weren‘t swayed by the hype.
The common ways people get killed or injured are simply not news generators. Well, the short story is, that we have to make do with the support we are given, and frankly, your average first response agency is stretching the money as far as it can go, and there are limits to that even.
Citizen have every right to expect the local first responders to be up to bat and already gearing up for the what-ifs. That is the job we fill.
However, there are those out there who think we are sitting around playing checkers, in fact, people like me are missing out on our children‘s ball games or relaxing with a drink in front of the evening news because we are busy making sure you can.
I encourage you to think about these things the next time your local troll has put in the newspaper what a waste supporting fire, EMS or law enforcement is, or when your elected representatives are defunding programs that help us to stay prepared. We need your help in doing our job.
We are there, regardless of where the news story is, regardless of where people have their attention focused, looking at the bigger picture, and keeping you and your loved ones healthy and happy.
