Language barrier prompts hazmat response to Dayton home

DAYTON — A language barrier resulted in a hazmat crew responding to a Wyoming Street home after a man reported that his brother was sick Monday night.

“There was an extensive language barrier with this patient so it was hard to get a lot of good information,” Dayton Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Lykins said. “There was some thought that there may have been some recent international travel and as a result, crews notified the Dayton Regional Hazmat unit.”

The patient, a 19-year-old man, was isolated and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Public Health Dayton and Montgomery County has since told the department that there’s no reason for neighbors or anyone in the area to be concerned, said Lykins.

“The language barrier drove a lot of this,” he said. “[Crews were] unable to get really clear information about the nature of this illness, the nature of any recent travel or international travel.”

While Lykins wasn’t sure about the nature of the illness, he confirmed that crews thought the patient had been to Africa recently.

Though it’s uncommon for a hazmat unit to respond to an EMS call, Lykins said crews did the right thing.

“It’s one of those things where you get one chance to get it right,” he said. “I’m very proud of our crews, they did an exceptional job.”

In a typical hazmat case, crews first try to identify the threat and gather information, Lykins explained.

“In this case, it was an ill patient,” he said. ... “Really the crux of what [the hazmat unit] provided here was just a mechanism to safely transport the patient and isolate them until they get to the hospital and definitively find out if there was a concern.”