Lancaster County EMS

My name is Alison Gorney, I am a paramedic FTO, which is Field Training Officer. You know, it definitely takes a special person to be in EMS. You can touch somebody in so many ways, and to help someone in their time of need is just an incredible feeling.

My name is Blake Champion, I’m a paramedic assistance supervisor with Lancaster County EMS, here in the great state of South Carolina. My job is not only helping people, but also making a difference in my community. I was born and raised here in Lancaster, South Carolina so being able to help people that are in my community it’s just the greatest feeling in the world.

Can you describe your experience working during the pandemic?

Tiring, it’s tiring. It’s an eye-opener but ultimately it’s something that we’re pushing through. It’s just changed everything, you’ve come to understand more about protecting yourself and ultimately protecting your family as well.

We’ve you know, just tried to overcome the day to day challenges that we’ve just never seen before. From our daily operations to our cleaning processes we’ve always taken very good care of our units. Taking that extra step to make sure we’re not passing something on from one person to another, as well as not taking things home to our family is important. We have to protect ourselves a little more these days.

What lead you to GVS-RPB as your choice of respiratory protection?

Clay Catoe

My name is Clay Catoe, I am the director of Lancaster County EMS. We got a lump sum of money from the federal government and through that I decided to do some research into the PAPR devices, and I’d found your device. I went and made some phone calls, touch base, had someone come and demonstrate it. Kind of fell in love with the product and from there the history was made. It’s helped with the confidence level in the patient’s care. So if we respond to a potential patient that has an airborne disease, our standard is to feel free to use the device to help protect yourself and your partner.

Blake Champion

We were using N95s, KN95s, as well as just general surgical masks for our protection. We were finding that for some the N95s and things weren’t making a good seal, they weren’t protecting us like we were hoping. As you can tell, I have a beard, I’ve always maintained a beard. So the RPB system and the PAPR system has helped to protect us, and provide a good seal for those of us that have beards.

I had one patient that really stood out to me here recently when we came in wearing the PAPR system, and she could not thank us enough. Her mother was sick, and she just could not thank us enough for wearing the PAPR system to protect us and her family and just to go that extra step really meant a lot for that patient. Even once COVID is over, the system works great especially with any type of infection or airborne diseases or illnesses that are out there. We can always use these to protect ourselves.

Alison Gorney

I have a very small framed face and so the N95s and the KN95s don’t truly fit me so I didn’t feel truly protected. With this, the new system that we’ve gotten, it’s better seal, better fit, and it just makes me feel a lot safer. With a mask, it also caused a lot of redness and you know people would be like “Hey, you’re allergic to these masks!” but with the PAPR system, amazing. I don’t have to worry about skin issues. On hotter calls, you know hotter days just it’s a lot cooler.

I’ve had to multiple, multiple times, pull my mask down, especially with the elderly population. It’s a safety issue for me, but they don’t understand, so I have to pull my mask down so they can see me speaking to them and understand better. So the fact that they can now see my lips, it’s a great change. This whole pandemic has changed healthcare in general.