Getting the gear needed to protect health workers and first responders during the COVID-19 crisis has “been a bit of a struggle,” according to Doug Dodge, Jefferson County disaster and emergency services coordinator
Dodge, who has been co-managing the county’s Unified Health Command along with the Health Department during the health emergency, said the county did receive a box of PPE (personal protective equipment) supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile, but it was small.
The first box from the stockpile contained 180 N95 masks, which may sound like a lot, but divide that between all the facilities and agencies in Jefferson County that are needing supplies — nursing homes, assisted living centers, medical clinics, EMS agencies, fire and law enforcement — and that results in just a handful for each of them even after resource prioritization has been made, said Dodge.
