-First, a fever or cough,
which is really how most of the cases are coming over,
it's most likely somebody who's been presenting
with the COVID symptoms.
Trying to recommend people stay at home.
This would probably be one of those cases
where they're certainly feeling sick,
but at the same time, the symptoms are not so severe
that it would really ultimately warrant them
going to the hospital.
That's pretty much what just happened today.
And right now.
And will continue to happen for quite some time.
-We have to suspect that, you know, everyone has COVID.
We're suiting up.
-Bleach, it's what's for dinner.
-Complete body suits are for every call.
Face masks, face shields.
You know, we're trying to stop the spread, pretty much.
-This line, essentially, that we're crossing,
that we're now in the hot zone by checking our patients,
by checking their lungs and checking their temperature.
So there is absolutely a different experience
when you know that you have that type of patient
who may, ultimately, infect you.
-A volunteer ambulance corps is not for profit,
so none of our members get paid.
All of us volunteer our time.
This is more like a stepping stone for people
that do want to do EMS.
We got a lot of members that come in,
they learn, they go out on the ambulance.
It's like 3,000 and change on a normal day.
They were hitting 5,000, 6,000 to 7,000 calls per day.
That's when the fire department activated their mutual aid.
On a normal daily basis,
we basically pick and choose what calls we go to.
Now the fire department dispatches us
to every single call.
-You guys have a call?
Since the COVID-19 started, we've been doing 12-hour shifts
from 9:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night.
Normally, what we would have done would be six-hour shifts.
-This is an unprecedented time.
Not only are we being asked to put our own physical bodies
at risk,
there's also the strange thing where you have to advise people
that you should stay home, which we almost never do.
Usually our protocol is,
"Well, if you're sick, let's go."
You may not have the COVID virus.
If you go to the hospital, there's a reasonably good chance
you're going to get the COVID virus.
And so we're put into this very funny situation.
So in addition to the bleach,
we use this light just to kill everything.
Whatever this light sees it kills.
-It's scary.
Like, when you really think about it, you know,
before this, we jump on the ambulance,
goes out, does calls, go home, you go to your family.
Now it's more like, "Okay, how do I stay clean
that I don't catch anything?
How do I not bring this home to my family?
How do I not get anybody else sick?
We did lose one member, Ruben Rodriguez.
They're saying it's a suspected COVID death.
He was a really good guy.
He was here for a couple of years.
We're all really gonna miss the guy.
He was really a stand-up person.
-This is why we became EMTs, you know, to help people.
The fact that we choose to volunteer, you know,
that shows even more that we're doing this
just to help the people we serve.
-It's about the city. I love the city so much.
And when the city is sick,
I mean, you want to just do everything you can for it.