CLEVELAND — Back when COVID-19 first broke out in Ohio, Auburn Fire Department EMT Mike Cardaman put on several kinds of PPE before responding to cases. 

What You Need To Know

  • Paramedics and EMTs had to risk infection from COVID when going on runs during the height of the pandemic

  • They had to make adjustments to limit the spread among them

  • Paramedics and EMTs would still contract the virus while on the job

Despite all of it, it didn’t guarantee protection from the virus while taking someone to the hospital. But it was their duty to bring them there.

“Most of us got COVID from on the job," Cardaman said. "We had to have it on.”

All he could do was limit the spread. The EMTs and paramedics ride in the front seat. But when they arrived, the driver stays in the front and close off the back of the ambulance with a door that separated them. They don't have to close the door anymore. 

Paramedic Nathan Clyde said the door became a barrier, making it harder to speak to the driver if they’re on a run, since their voice could be drowned out by the roar of the engine and the blaring sirens.

“Especially with a very critical COVID patient, it just made our job and our life a lot more difficult," Clyde said. 

“We’ve had it where he will have to call on our cell phone if we have him on us, to give us important information," Cardaman said.

Cardaman said sometimes both the driver and the paramedic had to go into a building to get a patient out. He ended up getting COVID, likely from a patient.

“I had it so bad, I thought I was gonna die," Cardaman said. "I was in bed at one time 10 days straight.”

Cardaman found out that even with all of his protective equipment, there is a risk with every run.

“That’s it. Risk a little save a little," Cardaman said. "Risk a lot save a lot.”