Paramedic on the frontlines of coronavirus pandemic: Get the vaccine

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - They see the worst of COVID-19 on the front lines every day.

Paramedics 19 News spoke to urge you to get vaccinated and do what you can to help end this deadly pandemic.

Cleveland EMS paramedic Timothy Sommerfelt has never seen anything like this in his 15 years responding to emergencies.

“We’ve definitely had patients that are very sick before, it’s what we do. But we were seeing much more then we’ve seen before, especially with this,” he said.

He got emotional describing what it’s like to help COvID-19 patients.

“We’d drop off somebody who was extremely sick. We’d take all our PPE off. We’d be drenched in sweat from wearing the goggles, the double mask,” Sommerfelt said. “Then we’d go back in service and right to the same nursing facility for another patient.”

He knew some of those patients likely wouldn’t make it out of the hospital alive.

Sommerfelt said they saw a surge in nursing homes in December.

“Some of them pretty much resembled space stations, they had plastic curtains over every door. Every nurse aid tech would be wearing full PPE,” he said.

That’s why he feels so strongly about getting vaccinated.

As a paramedic, he’s one of the first in line. He got his second dose Thursday.

“I had the first shot. I did have some side effects,” he said. “I felt a little gunky, tired, headache. But unlike with real Covid, those symptoms went away within a day or so. When I had Covid, those symptoms stretched out for at least a week.”

Sommerfelt is secretary of CARE, the Cleveland Association of Rescue Employees union.

He said 57% of their medics have received the vaccine.

Some crews don’t qualify for it like those who’ve had COVID-19 in the past 14 days.

“People are asking us, how can we help first responders, how can we help health care workers during this pandemic? While signs are nice, while social media messages are great, if you really want to help us, the best thing you can do is get the vaccine as soon as it’s available to you,” Sommerfelt said.

Many Cleveland EMS and fire personnel are actually administering the vaccine themselves at city clinics.

The COVID-19 vaccine is optional and not mandated for city employees.

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