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Contains updated Chief's Message.
Chief's Message
Happy New Year!
Here's to a year of HOPE, Health, and Vaccines…. 2020 is finally in our rearview mirror, and we have physically turned the page on our calendars to 2021! Vaccines are being made available to Healthcare workers on the front lines and the most vulnerable in congregate care facilities locally.
ACFPD Paramedics and EMTs are currently being vaccinated as local EMS First Responders through Napa County's COVID-19 Vaccination Program. We are grateful for the support that we have received from Supervisor Belia Ramos, Dr. Karen Relucio, and the entire Napa County Public Health and EMS staff over the past month.
Do you know someone who has contracted COVID-19? Someone in your family or someone in your neighborhood or at work? I hadn't until December 15th. That's the day I was notified that I had tested positive for the virus. How could this have happened to me? I wear a mask and maintain 6ft between other people and me, and I don't think I have washed my hands more in my 67 yrs. On this planet, then I have in the past several months. I was shocked and scared about this news. Although I am in good health, I am over 60 and could lose some weight and exercise more! More importantly, I was scared for my family, especially for my wife, who I most certainly had exposed unknowingly.
My symptoms were minor, and my wife tested negative, thankfully, after several anxious days of waiting for test results. I am eternally grateful for not experiencing what many of your family and friends have had to go through with this virus. I can only imagine the fear of being in the hospital by myself or, even worse, in an ICU bed hooked up to a ventilator. The quarantine was tough enough for me! Being isolated from my wife in our house's back bedroom for ten days over the holidays was an experience I am glad is behind me. Making those difficult phone calls to family and friends where I had to share my condition and encourage them to get tested because of their contact with me made for some very long days. I finally can leave the house, go to the store, see friends and family, and experience life as I did before my diagnosis last month.
Sitting at my desk here at the fire station has a whole new meaning for me, given this most recent life experience!
I am grateful to be back…
I have learned from personal experience that the COVID-19 virus is REAL… we have experienced its impact both here at work and within our homes and families. Please hear me when I say you can't be too safe right now.
American Canyon and the entire Bay Area is in State of EMERGENCY and LOCKDOWN because we haven't been able to control this PANDEMIC! Please protect yourself and your families by continuing to WEAR a mask, WASH your hands, and WATCH your distance when possible. Vaccines are coming, but we won't see them commonly in our community until Summer if we are lucky! Even after they arrive and we all get vaccinated, we will need to be vigilant and patient about reducing the spread here and within our families by practicing the 3 Ws.
Mike Cahill
Interim Fire Chief
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