Kaiser Health News
Tim Dupin thought or at least hoped that Missouri firefighters, paramedics and other emergency medical services personnel would be among the first to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
After months of feeling overlooked by elected leaders in the distribution of safety equipment and other resources, surely, Dupin thought, their role on the front line of the medical system would be recognized. They had, throughout the pandemic, responded to calls the way they always had: Without regard to whom or what they would encounter at the scene, interacting with people who could have the coronavirus, despite often having makeshift personal protective equipment and masks that were old, faulty or moldy.
Tim Dupin thought or at least hoped that Missouri firefighters, paramedics and other emergency medical services personnel would be among the first to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Firefighters grappling with burnout, stagnant pay and a lack of personal protective equipment are even more frustrated to find they are lower down the vaccine priority list than health care workers despite serving on the front lines of the medical system.
In every age, wherever people have built communities, the danger of fire has loomed on the periphery. Calm summer evenings and quiet wintry nights have been spliced by the sound
In every age, wherever people have built communities, the danger of fire has loomed on the periphery. Calm summer evenings and quiet wintry nights have been spliced by the sound of a fire station alarm. Men and women from all walks of life have scrambled to the call, harnessing equipment and mustering courage to rush to the aid of those in need. And the majority of those men and women are volunteers. Volunteers staffed the first fire companies in the U.S., and not much has changed ⦠except their numbers.
In Forsyth County, the volunteer firefighter shortage has reached a critical emergency state. Every four days in North Carolina, a life is lost to fire. Thatâs one person gone every week or less.