A representative from Thompson Emergency Services has told Arctic Radio News that they are well-stocked with personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Deputy Chief of EMS, Selby Brown, says any concerns around the stock of PPE was quickly addressed.

 

“ When the pandemic first started there was a bit of a concern because everybody was looking for the same PPE, so I don’t know if you’d call it a shortage but it wasn’t on hand. But Shared Health and the Northern Health Authority were quick in finding the solutions for us so that we would have incoming PPE on hand and us, as a department, we have different types of PPE on hand anyway because of the wide variety of emergencies we deal with up here in Thompson.”

 

Brown details some of the types of personal protective equipment Thompson EMS has to work with.

 

“We have the gloves, the gowns, the N-95 masks, we have on stock half-masks with filters on that we got locally here. We have the sanitizer, all the cleaning agents.”

 

Brown said the half-masks were sourced by Sling Choker and are reusable.

 

According to a news release last week from the President of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, Bob Moroz, rural paramedics don’t have access to the same protective gear as their counterparts in Winnipeg.

 

Brown says this is not the case in Thompson and he is unaware if that’s an issue in other northern jurisdictions.