Shoals Ambulance paramedics and EMTs get coronavirus vaccine

Later.

New at six - from call centers to ambulances to icu units - those frontline workers are exhausted.

Waay31's breken terry spoke with a paramdeic to see what the impact has been on them, breken?

Fabian oden has been a paramdeic for ten years and he said this year has been a rollercoaster from increased call volume, exhaustion, and just the fears he could bring home this virus to his chidlren.

Oden works for shoals ambulance and said when all of this first started some of his co-workers got sick so getting called in to work on off days became a normal occurance.

He said that was the least of his worries but as the months dragged on exhaustion has set in.

He said the worst part of this has been the emotional lows and trying to comfort coronavirus patients as they're transported.

Whenever they hear the sound of the back doors shutting you can see the fear in their eyes that this could be the last time that they ever see their family members.

So were kind of having to play a role in the coping mechanism for that patient which is new for us because our patients are more scared than usual oden said one of the things he does to comfort patients is he lets them use his personal cell phone to call home and let family members know they made it safely to the hospital.

Oden said that one small act can make a world of difference and help calm everyones nerves.

Paramdeics and emts here in the shoals started getting their vaccines today.

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