In the eye of the Covid storm

When the COVID-19 Pandemic struck back in March, 2020, the volunteers of County Cavan Civil Defence were immediately thrust into the eye of the storm. What followed was the busiest year the group has experience since it was founded back in 1951. Reporter SEAN MCMAHON caught up with some of the volunteers...

From the time Cavan Civil Defence volunteers commenced their official Covid duties on March 12, 2020, to the end of the year, they completed 630 Covid-related tasks, making them one of the most active units in the whole of Ireland. They put up 100,000 kilometers on one jeep alone in the early weeks of the pandemic when they were delivering food parcels to those cocooning or in isolation.

“This year to date we have completed 595 Covid tasks and that adds up to a total of 1,225 Covid duties [since the start of the crisis]. If you take it at six hours per duty with two volunteers, it equates to 14,700 volunteer hours,” revealed John Maguire, a Cavan Civil Defence Officer.

The figures were relevant to the end of August 2021.

The Cavan Civil Defence unit is an integral part of Cavan County Council’s structure and is well supported by senior management in the local authority.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers for the great effort they put in – I really appreciate it,” said John. He is supported in his role by Carmel Prior, acting assistant Civil Defence officer with County Cavan Civil Defence.

Removed Covid patients from hospital

John said that volunteers placed themselves on the frontline at a time when there was much uncertainty and fear and no vaccine nor treatment for the virus. They were involved in delivering supplies, transporting patients and, in some cases, removing the remains of deceased Covid patients from the hospital.

“Of the 100 volunteers who volunteered for Covid duty, we all went into the hospital, even when there was no vaccine, to take patients out. It was hectic. I don’t know how the staff in the hospital withstood the pressure. They were always in good humour and kept going even when staff were off with Covid,” recalls John of the early days during the first lockdown.

The fear has diminished somewhat but John feels many people are still uneasy or have lost their confidence.

“There is still a lot of fear of COVID-19 out there, even though there are a lot of people vaccinated. During the first wave of Covid and the lockdown, people were stressed out and very much afraid of contracting COVID-19,” he found.

“We had to be extremely careful – we were sitting in ambulances for hours with patients who were Covid positive. Some got sick in the back of the ambulances and, touch wood, none of our Civil Defence volunteers got Covid. Every time we transported a patient in a vehicle, it was cleaned down immediately and that [process] is still in operation,” detailed John.

Supporting the community

Cavan Civil Defence volunteers were very much involved in the Council-led Community Call response during the pandemic.

“Over the past 18 months during Covid, we have certainly responded more to supporting the community and to people who had no transport and required medication. We have been involved in bringing Covid patients out of Cavan General to free up beds and on numerous occasions brought patients down to Monaghan General Hospital [for rehabilitation/step down care],” explained John.

“We brought patients up to isolation centres in the Phoenix Park. I remember bringing one gentleman home and he had to use steps to climb in a room window, because the wife would not him go in through the house because he was Covid positive,” he recalled of some of the scenarios he encountered.

They also transported vulnerable people to hospital appointments in Dublin, Drogheda, Navan and Sligo.

Civil Defence also assisted Cavan General Hospital in transporting Covid positive patients to and from the hospital for dialysis and to nursing homes. All volunteers were kitted out in top-quality PPE.

Unit members also assisted the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) at their clinics throughout the county.

Volunteers have also assisted the HSE Primary Care team by transporting people to the test centre and to their assessment hub and by delivering medical items to elderly people and meals to people isolating because of COVID-19. A large part of their work currently involves transporting people to the Castlesaunderson Centre for Covid tests.

“Our people are trained up to the level of Emergency First Responder and Emergency Medical Technician level,” revealed John.

“We are a statutory organisation and, even though the people are volunteers, our vehicles are funded by the Department of Defence and part funded by the local authority. Seventy per cent funding from the Department and thirty per cent by the local authority – in fairness the local authority provides more like 50% – they are very good,” explained John of the structure of the organisation.

Civil Defence plays an important role in assisting front-line services such as the HSE, the county council, the Gardai and the Fire Service with trained personnel to respond to emergencies. The unit also supports and facilitates community activities.

“That is what we train for,” stressed John.

New recruits

Cavan Civil Defence has 209 active volunteers but, understandably, because of personal circumstances not all could participate in Covid-related duty. “We currently have 48 volunteers wishing to join Civil Defence but, because of Covid, I have not been in a position to commence training with them. I hope to commence that training this October,” he added.

Recently John accompanied another volunteer to assist a lady who had a fire in her home. They helped her to make it liveable again. “The volunteer who is a carpenter hung the doors on presses and fitted the washing machine in its place. That matter was referred to us by a social worker,” John outlined of some of the referrals by agencies to the unit.

Electricity cut off

In another case a woman came home from hospital with an oxygen machine to discover that the power had been cut off in the house.

“The electricity was on an electric meter and the nurse in the hospital in question rang the ESB and asked them to forward her credit and reconnect her. She did not know how to ring the ESB and punch in all the numbers involved. One of our volunteers went to the home of the lady, put in the various numbers and got her re-connected, so she could run her oxygen machine,” John gives another example of the varied tasks undertaken by volunteers.

Equipment

During 2020 the Civil Defence acquired a new Ford Ranger jeep to replace an older vehicle and this was funded by the Civil Defence branch through Dormant Accounts funding.

The local unit currently has three ambulances and a mini-bus, which they used to transport Covid patients. They also have two control vehicles, and one of those is used by the drone team and the other by the search team.

It has four boats and seven four-wheel drive jeeps, which can be utilised in flood conditions and also to pull the boats. The purchase of an ATV vehicle is currently underway and it will be used in mountain and hill rescue and to launch boats in soft conditions or where there is only access to lakes through fields.

Civil Defence also purchased a “fogging” machine to help sterilise its vehicles and training rooms to ease the task of manually washing down surfaces between every task.

PPE and fuel have proven to be a sizeable expense but the unit received an extra grant from the CD branch to help with fuel and food for volunteers.

New Base

Towards the end of 2020, Cavan Civil Defence acquired a premises at Pullamore, Cavan, to serve as a Headquarters and Training Centre for the county.

“It will need some renovation before we can use it as a headquarters. It will be a major achievement to get it up and running and it will illustrate that all those hours volunteered by volunteers are appreciated,” said John.

The organisation is currently renting a building at Rathcorrick until the new premises is ready.

John would also like to see a greater appreciation by the Department of Defence for the work undertaken by volunteers on the ground.

“For instance, it is a tough job going out to recover bodies from lakes or rivers. We also cover all the community events that will soon be starting up again and we cover football matches,” he said.

If you are 18 years of age or over and would like to meet new people, learn new skills and be part of Cavan Civil Defence, why not go along to one of the training nights