Local paramedics share their experience on the frontline
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY)-California Medical Assistance Teams, also known as CALMAT have been essential in providing emergency services to areas in California that have been highly impacted by COVID-19.
These healthcare providers get deployed across the state to places where their help is needed the most.
"All of a sudden you get an email hey are you able to deploy, followed by a phone call,” said Edgar Cordova, local AMR paramedic United EMS Imperial County President.
Without hesitation he accepted the mission.
He deployed for almost a month to help assist COVID-19 patients in another region in California.
“We did anything that you would do for a normal patient from vital signs to blood sugar to anything that is in your skill from practice you would be doing,” said Cordova.
The one thing that wasn’t practiced was dealing with the unknowns of the virus.
“Seeing the patient struggle being on their own basically,” said Cordova.
Setting up video calls with family and lifting patient morale was a major role in the mission.
“As a paramedic, as an EMT, as a nurse, you’re taught the healing hand, the touching hand, the conversation, the warmth of a smile. It’s hard. It makes it really hard to show a patient that you're smiling when you're gowned from the feet up with a mask,” said Cordova.
“Since their away from their family sometimes it’s just talking to them and holding their hand,” said Guillermo Gonzalez, AMR paramedic and CALMAT member.
Gonzalez deployed to Northern California. He assisted in one of the counties that got hit the hardest by the virus.
After serving two weeks with CALMAT, he returned to the valley.
Imperial County started seeing a spike in cases and all local AMR paramedics were needed at the home front.
Gonzalez says deploying with CALMAT was a huge eye opener of what measures need to be taken to get Imperial County through the pandemic.
“Us as a local we're trying to establish and implement to our employer how to keep each other safe. Cause that’s the main thing. I’m lucky to say that my partners that I was with in northern California, now they’re here in Imperial Valley,” said Gonzalez.
Several CALMAT teams have been deployed to assist our local hospitals and the county’s new Federal Medical Station at Imperial Valley College.
“If there’s anything I can say to Imperial County is that we have a great team and we’re so lucky to have them here,” said Gonzalez.
