The Bloomington Headquarters Fire Station on Fourth Street.
(Emma Atkinson, WFIU/WTIU News)
When it comes to staying safe from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Curt Durnil says police officers couldn’t avoid working with people, even if they wanted to.
“We’re always going to have interaction with people,” he says. “That’s what we do, whether it’s out on the street or here in our facilities, folks are going to come in and we’re going to have interactions with them.”
Knowing that, the Indiana State Police has policies in place to be ready to address all communicable diseases, not just COVID-19. And they have tools, like rubber gloves, respirators, masks and whole head-to-toe outfits they can put on to protect from all infectious diseases.
Durnil says state troopers and other police offices undergo regular training so they can be ready to deal with what comes up.
“We’re training continuously,” he says, “no matter what the scenario is, no matter if it’s some kind of virus that’s making news waves, we’re always training and preparing for that instance and it might happen and it might save our lives and it might save your lives. That’s what we’re training for right now.”
Both Durnil and Bloomington Fire Chief Jason Moore say their departments get regular updates from numerous agencies concerned about public safety. For instance, Moore gets tips from the Monroe County Department of Health, Indiana Homeland Security and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
“The big thing for us is this is not a lot different from we’re at the peak of flu season, right now, so for us it’s making sure we’re deconning our equipment really well," Moore says. “IU Health has instituted a policy with 911 dispatch, so we’re prescreening people who have signs and symptoms of coronavirus or flu so it alerts the emergency responders and gives us a heads up about potentially walking into a situation where we could be exposed to this.”
Besides decontaminating equipment, that communication piece is crucial.
“Communication is always key, if you think you have it, we can give you a mask, we can mask up, provide extra protections for our employees,” he says.
But firefighters and other emergency workers can’t protect the public without the public’s help.
“Realistically, everyone has to kind of do their part to make sure an illness like this from becoming something like a pandemic,” Moore says.
And don’t be afraid to overshare your condition with the 911 dispatcher if you need help.
“The more we know when we get there, the better equipped we will be to not only help you but also to prevent ourselves from being sicker and not help other people and be the vector point from house to house,” he says.
Moore says he knows outside influences can affect his department and others. Emergency workers have lives outside of their jobs.
“We do have internal discussions about what would we do if all the schools are closed and we’re working parents as well, what would that look like with staffing and everything else,” he says. He adds he would be able to call in off-duty firefighters from his 100-person staff if needed to fill in for others who couldn’t come to work for one reason or another.
For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.
