Weston EMS Gets New Look With State-Of-The-Art Face Masks

WESTON, CT — Don't be alarmed: Weston Volunteer EMS has a new look. Crew members may well arrive at the scene or at residents' homes wearing a mask like the one pictured, and they don't want Westonites to freak out.

The new state-of-the-art personal protective gear is "the best possible protective masks to help keep our crew healthy so we can continue to be there for all Weston residents," EMS spokesperson Adria Belport told Patch

Lt. Cindy Sherlock, Weston EMS training officer, said "members are now donning Scott AV 3000 fire masks that can be connected to a particulate filter to help EMTs stay protected without worrying about running out of N95 masks."

The gold standard at the start of the pandemic, N95s are still very hard to get in the quantity needed by the EMTs, according to Sherlock.

"Of great importance is the operational aspect to deploying these masks to our members," said Michael Schlecter , chief of Weston Volunteer EMS said. "Firstly, it is about the ease of having readily available PPE given the supply chain challenges. Second, these masks provide a higher protection and range of motion, especially for EMS operations like CPR. Third, we have had to modify our response levels due to COVID, and this will get us closer to pre-COVID operations, since these are in each members' possession as opposed to residing on the ambulance. They can be rapidly donned and then safely cleaned and reused. Therefore, they solve many issues. Finally, and most importantly, people need to understand that we are nowhere near out of the woods here.

"Our message to the community is two-fold : First, we continue to stand ready and able to respond, and secondly, that we are not nearly at the end of COVID and that people need to remain vigilant in doing their part."

These masks don't come cheap. Weston residents looking to help the town's volunteer EMS crew with their rescue efforts can make a donation online here.