‘We always want to save them’: KCK paramedics rush to help those struck down by virus
As Karl Tsen and his crew responded to a call of an elderly man in respiratory distress, their computer screen updated them to say he was possibly turning blue.
A senior firefighter paramedic for the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department, Tsen told his colleagues they needed to be prepared: the patient could be in cardiac arrest.
He was. After pulling up to the nursing home, Life Care Center, the first responders gave the man, who was in his 70s, several rounds of medicine, inserted an IV line and administered CPR. Their efforts were effective: the man’s heartbeat returned.
Only later would the first responders learn the man, who they had rushed to Providence Medical Center, had been infected with the new coronavirus — and he would be the first person to die from COVID-19 in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas.
Tsen was in disbelief.
He asked his supervisor several times if the patient, who tested positive after he died, had been retested. He thought there was “no way” the essentially bed-bound patient could have contracted the virus. He had few visitors and had not traveled recently.
“COVID really shocked us,” he said. “It just caught us by surprise how fast it came to Kansas City.”
Since that first death was announced March 12, Wyandotte County has outpaced other jurisdictions across the Kansas City region in the number of confirmed infections.
A paramedic of more than 15 years in Kansas City, Kansas, Tsen is assigned to Station 18 near 55th Street and Leavenworth Road. His crew, which staffs a minimum of five people at a time, can be called to emergencies to the west and downtown, making it one of the busiest firehouses in the city.
They respond to all medical, fire and service calls: even residents having trouble with smoke detectors and water leaks. Tsen once rescued a cat from a tree.
But since the pandemic began, serious calls involving elderly patients have gone up. Many have respiratory issues, fevers around 102 degrees and low vital signs.
With the sound of liquid in their lungs, they struggle to breathe. It’s something Tsen’s crew used to see occasionally, especially among patients who were longtime smokers. But now city paramedics treat patients with similar symptoms at nursing homes each day.
More than half of COVID-19 deaths across Kansas have been tied to long-term care facilities, according to state data.
In Wyandotte County, outbreaks of the virus have been reported at Life Care Center, Delaware Highlands Assisted Living and Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation, which has seen 36 deaths.
For healthcare providers llike Tsen, watching a higher percentage of his patients die has been difficult. Paramedics have scanned obituaries, pointing to patients who didn’t make it.
“It’s rapid, it’s quick, it’s mercilessly taking out the elderly,” Tsen said. “And it’s just a big feeling of helplessness.”
After his crew learned of the first patient’s diagnosis, they were all off-duty at home in self isolation for two weeks. Tsen couldn’t see his sons, ages 7 and 8, during that time. Other firefighter paramedics working overtime were called in to fill the hole left at his station.
The responders were wearing goggles and gloves, but no respiratory protection, when they treated that patient. At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended paramedics be on the lookout for patients who traveled to places with a high number of infections, Tsen said.
The other paramedic on the call developed a slight fever, but tested negative for the virus. None of the others developed symptoms.
While they follow proper cleaning techniques, Tsen has worried about spreading the virus to other patients. First responders also fear bringing it home to their loved ones.
“That weighs heavily on us,” Tsen said.
First responders are particularly at high risk of contracting the virus. One in the metro, Billy Birmingham, an EMT with the Kansas City Fire Department, has died from COVID-19 complications.
“Firefighters, paramedics, EMTS — I think they all kind of display a class of selflessness,” his son, Bill Birmingham, told reporters in April near Kansas City’s Firefighters Memorial Fountain. “They know that every time a phone call comes, that potentially is something that is life altering for them.”
Since Tsen and his crew responded to that first COVID-19 death, protocols across the country have changed. Now they put on masks and gowns at every call.
Tsen hopes the U.S. takes the pandemic as a wake up call and increases the national stockpile of personal protective equipment. He cautioned people to keep employing social distancing as stay-at-home orders are relaxed, saying one misstep “can lead to catastrophic results.”
It’s hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel, he said. They’re used to saving people’s lives.
“This is an illness that I’ve seen infected people within six hours have complete lung failure,” Tsen said. “It goes against everything we believe in. We always want to save them.”
The Star’s Tammy Ljungblad contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
