Answering the Call – Journal Review

Jared McMurry | jmcmurry@jrpress.com

When the tone goes off, dozens of volunteer first responders across Montgomery County answer the call.

And that hasnt changed during the COVID-19 pandemic instead making their job that much more important.

You do have to appreciate people who are willing to go help people, Waveland fire chief Nathan Poynter said. Weve got a good group of people and that goes for every department across this county. The tone goes off and people come to help. They know they may not come back, let alone get sick or whatever. There cant be enough said about that for anybody.

When the pandemic first started in March 2020, departments scrambled for personal protective equipment, including N95 masks, hand sanitizer and Tyvek suits.

The Valero Ethanol plant in Linden made hand sanitizer, and the Indiana Emergency Management Agency eventually provided PPE.

The state EMA has been gracious enough to keep us in full gear, Coal Creek Township fire chief Darren Foreman said.

In the early going, many departments tried to mimic some of the protocols Crawfordsvilles fire department put into place.

On a medical call, we put in a protocol that kind of mirrored Crawfordsville, but with the focus on more what we do, Foreman said. Where we have one emergency responder enter the home on every call despite what it comes in as, and they evaluate is this a COVID restriction kind of a case or do we feel like theres not much of a COVID chance.

And even a year into the pandemic, each department is still evaluating every call for service to determine if COVID-19 is a threat.

I told all of the department, if youre in doubt at all, suit up and take all the precautions. Its better to be safe than sorry, Madison Township fire chief Earl Heide said.

Poynter said they try and treat all symptomatic calls the same.

Anything that is flu-like symptoms we protect ourselves to think that it is something that is highly contagious, he said. Weve had our fair share of COVID cases. We had five in seven days.

In the early going Coal Creek banded together with Waynetowns fire department to supply boxed lunches for students that were in need of daily meals after schools were closed. There have been some unexpected costs in the last year and several lost fundraising opportunities, but Foreman says Coal Creek, which is the largest township in Montgomery County, is hanging in there financially.

Our fundraising is not our lifeblood, he said. We are not a poor township, but we have a lot of rural area, so not a whole lot of tax-base there, so we would supplemental our non-essential stuff by doing fundraisers. So far our township trustee and town boards have been gracious enough to help us when they could.

Coal Creek, Madison and Waveland all saw fluctuation in calls for service in the last year. Poynter attributes a 10-15% decrease in calls to a lost spring of hiking at Shades State Park, while Heide said at the height of COVID, they only received calls for COVID-19 related symptoms or someone who desparately needed 911. Foreman said Coal Creak has seen a slight uptick in calls.

The biggest change has come in the increase in the length of medical and fire runs.

The big difference is, usually we come back and we do our paperwork and we are out of there, but when you have to come back and de-contaminate one or two people and the rescue truck and all of our equipment, it put a lot more tax on the volunteers, Foreman said. These folks are volunteering their time. Ive got an amazing crew at Coal Creek. Not once did anybody not make a run, not once did anyone complain.

As COVID-19 numbers continue to decline across Montgomery County with a corresponding incline in vaccinations, Heide said Madison Township has played its part in encouraging residents to get the shot that is now available to all Indiana residents ages 45 and older.

Weve talked to a lot of people in our community and theyre getting their shots, he said. We were one of the first departments around that starting getting shots. And you know how scared everybody was of taking their shots, we didnt get no computer chip and we didnt turn green or anything like that. Its just a precautionary shot just like any other that you take.

In every facet of life, society has adjusted in the last year and that has extended to first responders giving everyone a new perspective.

It didnt really bring on things that we should start doing, it made us aware of things that we needed to be doing from day one, Poynter said. I think awareness is the best thing that its done to help our department.

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Answering the Call - Journal Review