Brandon Stone
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon, Wash.
SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — Skagit County has partnered with Camp Korey to provide a place for first responders to isolate if they have been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
The agreement opens the camp to firefighters, police officers and paramedics who have been instructed to isolate but cannot do it at home, said Bronlea Mishler, spokesperson for the county’s unified emergency response.
As a summer camp for kids with serious medical conditions, Camp Korey, which is near Lake McMurray, is equipped to house those with medical issues, said CEO Jay Henningsen.
With onsite medical facilities, a remote location and private bedrooms and bathrooms, Mishler said the camp had “everything that we were looking for” in a quarantine site.
Henningsen said the camp relies on EMTs, paramedics and other members of the medical community, many of whom serve as volunteers to help campers during the summer.
“They’ve got our backs, so we’ll get theirs,” Hennigsen said.
Henningsen said the camp is providing its services at cost, and a $3,000-per-month retainer will be paid by the Skagit Community Foundation’s new Skagit Valley Disaster Relief Fund, which was formed to help keep local nonprofits in business.
Mishler said, to her knowledge, no first responders in Skagit County have needed to isolate, but because of the number of small, volunteer fire departments, she said it is difficult to know for sure.
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©2020 the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.)
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