EMS gets ballistic protection

News-Topic - 9/28/2021

Sep. 27—Caldwell County Emergency Medical Services has taken a step toward a fairly new concept by equipping first responders with ballistic vests.

EMS is no stranger to unpredictable calls and unforeseen circumstances, which is why Chief Dino DiBernardi believes the investment into 29 ballistic vests for Caldwell County EMS staff was a wise one.

"This is to augment what we're already doing to keep our crew safe and to add to their personal protection equipment," DiBernardi said, "In the same way you give a firefighter equipment, it's for protection."

DiBernardi says EMS responds to calls that aren't initially violent, but due to several factors could potentially evolve into a hostile situation.

"Assaults on first responders have increased over the years. The pandemic has also exacerbated things like mental health issues and the opioid epidemic," he said. "They may not even mean harm, it could just be that they don't know who is coming to help."

DiBernardi said that while, "shootings and stabbings aren't at the top of the list of what's killing EMS responders, this is just a part of the holistic package to keep the crew safe as we see crime increase."

Dibernadi says the vests were purchased through general budget savings and did not require additional funding.

"We saved money in a few areas last year that gave us the funds. For instance, travel training, we couldn't do that with the pandemic so we had money left over there," he said.

The purchase of the vests had to first be approved by county commissioners.

Randy Church, chairman of the county commissioners, said he was in favor of the purchase due to stories of EMS becoming involved in open fire situations.

"It was really spurred out of the incident in Watauga," Church said.

In April of 2021, two sheriff's deputies were killed in Boone, during an hours-long standoff that involved dozens of law enforcement and EMS.

Church said he's also on the board of the Collettsville Fire Department, and they too have purchased ballistic vests.

"It's unusual that this would happen, but we needed to have that protection for our folks," Church added.

Reporter Candice Simmons can be reached at (828)610-8721

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