Editor's note: Find Firehouse.com's complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here.
LUDLOW, MA—The Hampden County Sheriff’s Department — backed by local businesses and community partners — is readying an 84-room First Responder Recovery Home for frontline workers diagnosed with COVID-19.
Doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, corrections professionals and U.S. military members with COVID-19 staying at the Pre-Release Center will be provided with hotel bedding and restaurant quality food at no-charge, Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said.
RELATED:
- COVID-19: First Responders Caught in the Pandemic
- More PPE, Precautions for Firefighters on Coronavirus Pandemic's Frontline
For many people, a COVID-19 diagnosis is complicated by having to return home, where there may be elderly parents, immunocompromised children or spouses and newborn infants — making the medical directive to maintain a social distance difficult, he said.
“We’ve already received calls from people in the community who have been diagnosed, but have nowhere to go without jeopardizing the health of their family. That’s the need we are trying to fill,” Cocchi said. “And thanks to our amazing community partners, we are going to be able to provide a peaceful, tranquil place for first responders to recover with amenities including restaurant quality food and hotel bedding.”
Beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m., the sheriff’s staff will start welcoming guests for the 84 single-occupancy rooms on the Ludlow campus. Frontline workers with COVID-19 can call 413-858-0801 or 413-858-0819 to request a room.
(Letters informing first responders about the facility were sent out Saturday night and requests for rooms have already begun.)
Anyone planning to stay must be healthy enough to care for themselves, but the department’s medical staff will be doing rounds, Cocchi said. If someone needs more comprehensive medical care, then the sheriff’s department will help coordinate transportation.
“This is not just a Hampden County Sheriff’s Department effort," Cocchi said. “This is thanks to the good people in our community who care, and step up when things are tough.”
Charles D’Amour and Guy McFarlane of Big Y Foods; Robert Bolduc and Pride Stores; Cesar Ruiz Jr. and Golden Years Home Care; and Anthony Cignoli of A.L. Cignoli Company were among the first to step forward to help Cocchi establish the First Responder Recovery Home.
“As I’ve said before, these are stressful and uncertain times, and the only way we’re going to get through this is by working together," Cocchi said. "I’m just thankful we have so many strong community partners that put people over profits and go above and beyond when we pick up the phone.”
There were 11,736 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts, including 733 in Hampden County, as of Saturday evening. There have been 216 coronavirus-related deaths in the commonwealth.
Recently, inmates at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow and the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee have begun making protective masks and gowns.
The sheriff’s department has supplied masks so far to the Ludlow Fire Department, and the sheriffs departments for Barnstable, Franklin and Worcester counties, as well as Caring Health Center in Springfield.
Contributions
Donations to support the First Responder Recovery Home may be made to a tax deductible 501(c)(3) established by the sheriff: Criminal Justice Organization, 627 Randall Road, Ludlow, MA 01056, (check memo: First Responder Recovery Home)
———
©2020 The Republican, Springfield, Mass.
Visit The Republican, Springfield, Mass. at www.masslive.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
