HealthLinks Upstate July/August 2020

26 | www.UpstatePhysiciansSC.com | www.HealthLinksUpstate.com we’re supposed to,” he said. “Social distancing is not for you. It’s for your kids and your grandma.” On the other side of the Palmetto State, in Hanahan, the pandemic has negatively affected the bottom line for MedTrust, which handles almost strictly non-emergency transport in South Carolina, as well as in Southeast Georgia and the northern part of Florida. With the pandemic roaring and elective surgeries on hold, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Josh Watts said business was off by around 40% in April. He added, however, that by the end of May, his company, with 430 employees and 80 ambulances, was moving in the right direction as hospitals began to recover. MedTrust reacted to the coronavirus early on. Infection Control Officer Scot Parsnick and his team kept the company up-to-date on guidelines from federal, state and local entities. MedTrust also activated its incident command system, which originally met every day – later once a week – to discuss chang- es in the pandemic’s progress, known hot spots and facilities that were especially taxed by the virus. Most of all, MedTrust hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. “We have requirements for readiness,” Watts explained. “People are still having heart attacks and getting in traffic acci - dents. Let’s say there’s an accident, and people go to a facility that might not be able to treat them. We are called on to move the patients from one hospital to another.” MedTrust also prepared for what might have happened by stockpiling PPE, and, as a result, the company was able to help some of its partner facilities that were otherwise unable to ob- tain personal protective equipment for their employees. “As a middleman, with no markup, of course, we’ve been able to broker, if you will, about 75,000 masks for our part- ners,” Watts said. He pointed out that as of late May, MedTrust had transport- ed approximately 725 patients who either had or were suspect- ed of having COVID-19. He said only one staff member was exposed to the coronavirus, but it was not determined whether that happened on the job or somewhere else. That person recovered and returned to work. “We take the side of caution. Every time we move a patient, we use a surgical mask, and, if there’s any question at all, an N-95,” he stated. Despite the pain, suffering and death caused by the corona- virus, Butler is optimistic that some good will come from the pandemic. “I believe people are going to be more wary about their health. Before, most people took their health for granted. This is a wakeup call that will encourage people to live healthier lives,” he said. He added: “It’s probably not going to end soon, and this obviously could happen again. I think a lot of people will take a lot more precautions when it’s all over.” Photo by Jerry Finley photography.