As Wildfires Rage, Travel Nurses Fill Critical Need At Fire Camps


 
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By Tatiana Sánchez 

When Hillary Mills became a travel nurse in August after being unemployed for several months, the 30-year-old Tiburon resident assumed the job would take her to hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Instead, Mills has been on the front lines of California’s most recent crisis, treating injured firefighters as they battle some of the most vicious blazes in the state’s history. She’s among a small group of emergency response personnel — including doctors, nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians — contracted by the state to work in fire base camps, tending to firefighters who suffer minor burns, aches and even bee stings.

Their presence at fire camps may not have been necessary just a few years ago. Back then, it was often sufficient to send a few EMTs or a paramedic. But that’s no longer the case. As fire seasons worsen, leaders of the response see an urgent need for more helping hands.

These emergency responders are particularly critical during a devastating year for wildfires, which have burned more than 3.4 million acres in California this year — the most in the past decade, according to Cal Fire.

“To be a part of this kind of thing, this kind of disaster strike team relief, during this time in history is a really unique experience, and it’s really cool to be able to help and give assistance, even if it’s just giving moleskin to a firefighter who has really bad blisters,” Mills said.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit six months ago, Mills lost her jobs at a dermatology clinic and a plastic surgeon’s office on the same day, leaving her with no income — and no way to support her 3-year-old son.

One of the clinics rehired Mills in June, but she needed a bigger paycheck. A friend suggested travel nursing, which allows registered nurses to take on temporary assignments at understaffed hospitals or clinics across the country. The job offers flexibility, particularly for nurses who want to see new places, gain new experiences and jump-start their careers.

Mills knew nothing about the industry. But she welcomed the opportunity, becoming a certified travel nurse last month through Aya Healthcare, a travel nursing agency in San Diego. Though she’s a nurse practitioner by profession, Mills enrolled as a registered nurse to take the job.

She’s part of a “float pool” of roughly 45 travel nurses with Aya who respond to the state’s most pressing emergencies. Though their recent placements have focused mostly on treating COVID-19 patients, six nurses within the agency, including Mills, have volunteered at fire camps in Northern California in recent weeks through contracts with the California Department of Public Health.

Some of their assignments have ended, but a few remain at the fire camps.

Cal Fire began contracting with the California Emergency Medical Services Authority in 2018 as wildfires worsened and the need for more medical personnel became greater, said Lynne Tolmachoff, a Cal Fire spokeswoman. In previous years, the agency had “a paramedic and some firefighters” or a few EMTs stationed at the camps to treat injuries, she said.

“Bringing in the doctors, nurses and EMTs, that bolsters the level of care that they can give for anybody that comes in and needs it,” Tolmachoff said. “We’re obviously going to more fires, we’re going to larger fires, particularly this year. With that comes more injuries.”

Paid medical volunteers with the authority’s California Medical Assistance Team respond to emergencies across the state, often in field assignments — such as base camps — to provide medical care to first responders and civilians. When the need for medical care exceeds the team’s bandwidth, the medical services authority brings in contracted medical staff, such as travel nurses, to help. There were 37 medical workers — including three travel nurses — stationed at six fire base camps across the state as of Friday, according to the authority.

Travel nurses are often sent to fire camps with less than a day’s notice. Their assignments can change by the minute.

“These really are the nurses that are like the special forces,” said Sophia Morris, vice president of account management at Aya Healthcare. “They’re having to be deployed where they’re really needed the most.”

Before the pandemic, Mills’ patients came to her for plastic surgery, laser treatments, body contouring and other cosmetic enhancements. Today, her patients are battling some of the state’s most catastrophic wildfires, a shift she said has given her a new outlook on her career.

“These guys are just super inspiring,” said Mills, who arrived at a camp in Chico on Thursday to help treat firefighters responding to the North Complex fires. “The firemen are the nicest, most gracious people I have ever met. I honestly didn’t know what their job entailed — wildfire fighting — because I’m from Maine. That doesn’t exist out there, really. I learned a lot about how their job works and the kind of injuries that they sustain.”

Mills said her experience in plastic surgery and knowledge of the human skin has helped her treat the many abrasions, wounds and burns she sees in the camps. On one occasion, Mills said she helped excise and drain an abscess on a firefighter’s neck.

Injuries include sprains, burns, smoke inhalation, eye irritations, heat exhaustion, chest pain and lots of poison oak, the nurses said. They also help treat complications or illness because of pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Sometimes, the firefighters’ needs are simpler: They need to stock up on deodorant or eye wash solution.

Firefighters with major injuries are triaged and sent to nearby hospitals.

Beatriz Avalos, a travel nurse from Florida who was born in Mexico, was one of the first people to volunteer at a camp this month. She said she worked 12-hour shifts for the past two weeks, first at a camp in Red Bluff and then at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, a sprawling camp lined with tents, where firefighters could eat, get their laundry done and rest.

“This is something I’ve never in my life done or even knew was available,” said Avalos, 31, who worked with a COVID-19 crisis response team in Los Angeles for more than four months. “I honestly just wanted to do my part for California. I’ve been here for some time. This is like my second home. I was also looking forward to the experience I would get.”

Amid the buzz at the camps, the travel nurses said they were most impressed by the resilience of the firefighters they helped. When they finally did get a break — sleeping on cots or the ground at the camps — all they could talk about was getting back on the line, the nurses said. The firefighters always thanked them for their help.

The experience is “very humbling,” said Amy Butterfield, a travel nurse from Maine who spent several days at the fire camp at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa this month. “They’re just these stoic workers who know what their job is, and they go do it.”


 
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