A food workers union is calling on Alaska's governor to designate grocery store workers as "first responders" to free up safety equipment to help protect the employees and customers from COVID-19. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1496 in Alaska wrote a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy asking that the state's grocery store workers be treated like medical workers in a sense, said Buster Martin, the local union president. The goal is to put them near the front of the line for testing for the virus and for receiving face masks and other protective gear, he said. The gear is in short supply in Alaska and nationally. Grocery stores in Alaska and across the country have been swarming with customers as the response to the new coronavirus has escalated. Those workers should be prioritized for receiving personal protective equipment, after first responders like medical, police and emergency officials, Martin said. The gear and testing for grocery workers would benefit the public, too, he said.  

With Alaska's wildfire season officially starting on April 1, the Division of Forestry reminds Alaskans that they must have a current burn permit from the division to burn debris or use burn barrels anywhere in the state. Debris that can be burned includes organic material such as leaves, brush, grass, clippings, untreated wood, paper and cardboard. Those burning prohibited substances -- including plastics, garbage, rubber, Styrofoam, insulation, asbestos, painted or treated wood and anything else that produces black smoke -- are subject to citations. Residents should be aware of local regulations that may prohibit open burning or use of burn barrels within some municipal and city boundaries. Residents should check with their local fire department to determine if burning is allowed in their area. The division has updated its burn permit program, and now issues small- and large-scale burn permits.  

The Rowlett Fire Department has a long history of providing innovative solutions to complex issues. Continuing that legacy of care and commitment to our community, the Rowlett Fire Department has implemented a TeleMedic program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. TeleMedic embraces current technology and allows the online one-on-one video assessment of non-critical patients to reduce the risk of provider- or patient-borne exposure to contagions. Accessed via FaceTime for Apple users or Google Duo for Android users, the Rowlett Fire Department staffs the program around the clock, seven days a week with a firefighter/paramedic. The program targets the approximately 80 percent of patients who contract COVID-19 and experience only mild symptoms of the illness.  

At exactly 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evening, thousands of New Yorkers in quarantine stood on their porches and near their windows to applaud first responders and health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak. This powerful act of solidarity, which lasted several minutes, came about after a call on social media to #clapbecausewecare. "That gave me chills!" Chris Henken, who recorded video of the applause, tweeted. Accounting for nearly a quarter of the nation's COVID-19 cases, New York City is battling to keep its hospitals from being overwhelmed. Health care workers are already facing overcrowded emergency rooms, and a nurse recently died from coronavirus after working nonstop for weeks at a hospital The virus is also taking a toll on the New York City Police Department. More than 500 NYPD personnel have come down with COVID-19, including 442 officers, and two employees have died.  

The Laurel County Fire Department has launched a new phone app this week that includes two sections pertaining to COVID-19. "To our knowledge it's one of the first ones in the area," said Laurel County Fire Chief Terry Wattenbarger. "We're the first emergency service to actually have a mobile app like that." Wattenbarger said the fire department's main focus with the app is public information. The Laurel County Fire Department will be able to send the public push notifications through the app, informing them of accidents, fires, and other emergencies happening within the Laurel County Fire Department's service area. "We can't push every callout that we get, but we do work a major part of the interstate," explained Wattenbarger.  

Chief Diana Matty has heard the cries of doctors across the country: They need ventilators. As Palm Beach County braces for a potential spike in coronavirus cases, the West Palm Beach fire chief has coordinated efforts with the county's 10 other fire departments to let hospitals know they are poised to loan ventilators, should the need arise. Together, the departments have about 70 ventilators available to loan to hospitals to help treat patients with the respiratory virus, said Matty, who also serves as president of Palm Beach County Fire Chiefs Association. "It's a stopgap measure in a time of crisis," she said. The ventilators are simple versions of high-tech machines at hospitals, "a rotary phone in a world of iPhones," she said.  

A program conducting home visits with vulnerable patients after they have been checked out of the hospital is doing its best to go online, both for the sake of the paramedics and patients. Racine's Mobile Integrated Health program went into a trial phase in the fall of 2018 and was fully implemented in 2019. Paramedics with the Racine Fire Department underwent training on how to carry out home visits to patients who had recently been discharged from the hospital. The goal of the program is to ensure the patients are following their discharge instructions, taking their medications and watching for any red flags of circumstances that could risk that person needing to return to the hospital. Brian Wolf, the Fire Department's division chief of professional standards and head of the MIH program, said that because of the COVID-19 outbreak, most of the those check-ins and other services to help with recovery are now being done over the phone, sometimes with video chat or online.