City of Des Moines, Iowa COVID-19 Response in Des Moines, 13 Mar 2020

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From YouTube: DMFD COVID-19 Response

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The des moines fire department has been working with all of our partners within city government,, with our response partners across the county and state.

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And all the departments of public health, polk, county and iowa department of public health to be prepared and to make sure we're ready to have a response. That's appropriate for the need.

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And I think people should share in that confidence that we're preparing in the way that we should.

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We had to come up with a plan to protect our people. It wasn't a matter of "if", but "when" covid-19 was found here in iowa..

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What we've done is we've put together a couple of kits.

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These kits will be used in response to information. We get from dispatch.

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Some questions, particular questions that will be asked of folks.

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If these questions are answered, "yes", it will illicit a different response out of us.

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These two kits will be kept, one in each district chief vehicle.

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And one additionally in our special operations, on-call vehicle.

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This is traditional hazmat type equipment.

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You may see us wear these types of suits on different types of spills.

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That may occur. the respiratory protection, also is much higher than what's being called for right now,.

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But provides our responders with something that reusable and available to us., probably the most important tip we could give people would be to check the iowa department of public health's website for safety tips and what they should do. Next.

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We want to make sure people are following good advice, and not just social media advice., making sure that we're not jumping to conclusions to see this equipment,. You would think something very very serious was going on.

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And we don't want to downplay this in any way, shape or form,, but this is really for a high-risk type entry.

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When somebody has given us an indication that they have potentially been exposed to someone who has had or does have, the coronavirus.

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The des moines fire department prepares for all kinds of emergencies.

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We have different kinds of respirators and personal protection that we use that might be related to the covid-19 outbreak.

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But it also could be a hazmat call or some other kind of medical emergency.

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There's lots of reasons why we wear the equipment that we do.

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And just using that equipment shouldn't cause people to have concern.

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That's what we're doing on our part the thing that people can really do on their part is all the appropriate advice about washing your hands, seeking information.

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And if you don't feel well, don't call 911 or walk into the er.

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You call your personal physician or clinic, or you can call 211 or the department of public health.

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And tell them about your symptoms and that's where you start towards your recovery.

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Now, if you have an emergency,, you call 911, but for everything else,, you hit the pause button.

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Get your information and we'll get you the help you need.