Newport This Week

Strange Times for Newport Engineer and Part-Time EMT



Gary Huntress

Gary Huntress

As a part-time emergency medical technician in Swansea, Massachusetts, Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUMC) Division Newport electrical engineer Gary Huntress has to respond to difficult situations. But due to the COVID 19 pandemic, a recent call, was different from anything he had experienced before.

“I transported a gentleman and his wife, [who was] probably in her 80s, looked at me and said, ‘I know I can’t go with him,’” he said. “That made me very sad. Usually, she would ride with us in the ambulance so she could be with him in the hospital.”

Huntress, like people throughout the world, has had to adapt to new threats posed by the coronavirus. Unlike others, he has seen how gutwrenching it can be.

“I have been to the triage tent at Rhode Island Hospital, and brought patients to the COVID-19 isolation ward. It’s not pretty,” he said.

A resident of Swansea and a member of the town’s Ambulance Corps’ board of directors, Huntress works as an EMT every Friday from 6 p.m. through Saturday at 6 a.m., and often fills in other shifts when needed. At NUWC Division Newport, he works in the software engineering branch of the Platform and Payload Integration department.

“We have gone from zero cases in our region to a handful, but before our first reported case we were already treating everyone as high risk,” he said. “All local ambulance services have been preparing for this for many weeks. We have dramatically changed how we respond to almost every call.

“In the past, we’d arrive on scene and the crew [of three] would meet the patient and immediately begin treatment. Today, the 911 dispatcher tells the patient to meet us outside, if possible. That would have been unthinkable in the past.”

Huntress described their disinfection procedures as “extreme.” At the start of each shift and after every patient, he said, the inside of the ambulance is cleaned with a bleach solution.

“Every piece of equipment we use or touch is cleaned. We have gloves, gowns, goggles, masks and face shields,” he said. “Thankfully, we have adequate supplies and all crews take this very seriously.”

Huntress praised NUWC Division Newport’s leadership for the measures it has taken to ensure worker safety.

“Bravo Zulu for sure,” he said. “Embracing telework early was the correct move, especially knowing it would not be perfect at first. Then working hard to fix what wasn’t working was also excellent. My telework experience has been very good and I’m trying hard to be productive.

“I have not been at my office in quite a while, but they rolled out lots of hand sanitizer and wipes, and most importantly good communication and awareness. I honestly think that has reduced our exposure.”

Caroline Diette is deputy public affairs officer for the NUWC Division Newport.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.