Abbott easing restrictions across state - Page 2
Volunteers were out in force Saturday at the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center for the "Share Your Blessings" food drive. Read more about it inside today's edition on Page 3. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
WEDNESDAY • APRIL 29, 2020
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 88
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Unsung heroes worthy of spotlight during crisis By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
There is not a lot to be certain about nowadays if you are a resident of Fort Bend County or the Greater Houston region. Do we or do we not have to wear masks in public? How long before we can go back to work? Will we ever be able to go back to our favorite wa-
tering hole and blow off some steam? All of that uncertainty is on account of COVID-19, the infectious upper-respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus that has brought some people's worlds crashing down around them as they are laid off or lose a loved one. But here's one thing of which we can be certain: We have many unsung heroes
on the front line of the COVID-19 battle in Fort Bend County. They may be doctors or nurses, police officers or firefighters. They may even be the one who rings you up whenever you make your grocery store run for food, bottled water and toilet paper. In today's edition, we took a look into the jobs and lives of people in Fort Bend County who are serving the residents of this county, standing on the
front line and putting their own health at risk to do so. So take a few minutes today to read the stories of those who will never put themselves in the limelight, but absolutely deserve to be there. We dug into the lives of Sugar Land doctor Kabir Rezvankhoo, Sugar Land police officer Gregory Suter, Jonathon Sabrsula of the Stafford Fire Department and Sienna Plantantion H-E-B's
Betty Granados, also known as "Quick Trigger Betty." These people, in many ways, are just like you and me. They love this county and would do anything to protect it and keep it thriving. We hope you enjoy the stories in today's paper. And if you see any of these people around the neighborhood, be sure to give them a hearty "thank you" for their service.
Faces of our Front Line 'Quick Trigger Betty' sees pandemic help as God-given responsibility
Rezvankhoo making COVID-19 treatment his personal mission By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Kabir Rezvankhoo knows that if he doesn’t do what his job demands, the people in his care would not have a fighting chance against COVID-19. It’s that and more which drives him forward even as he becomes drained by the barrage of cases in Fort Bend County and his quest to find a solution. “If I don’t do what I do, then these patients have no hope. I’m not OK with just letting people die,” he said.
“To me – philosophically, morally and emotionally – I’ll do my absolute best for anyone that’s in front of me.” Rezvankhoo, a Sugar Land resident who specializes in emergency care at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital and the Texas Medical Center, is on the front line of the county’s battle against COVID-19. Much of his time since the pandemic began has been in the hospital’s intensive care unit, treating patients with the most severe symptoms of the
By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Betty Granados doesn’t live anywhere near Sienna Plantation or its local H-E-B store. But that doesn’t mean the community has become any less like family. She said treating customers like relatives remains crucial in the H-E-B’s efforts to comfort and protect the people who traipse to the store daily during the COVID-19 pandemic even as they battle their own personal struggles. “It gets emotional, but I know that I have a responsi-
SEE REZVANKHOO PAGE 7
bility to God,” Granados said. “My children are all OK, so I need to help others who need it.” Granados, who has worked at H-E-B’s Sienna Plantation location for two years, heads up the store’s COVID-19 action team. From the moment customers enter the store to the moment they exit, Granados and her sanitation team have likely played a role in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, the infectious upper-respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. “Even before the announcement was made, we knew
SEE BETTY PAGE 8
SFD’s Sabrsula adjusting to COVID-19 presents new new normal during pandemic frontier for Suter, SLPD By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Each morning when he clocks in, Jonathon Sabrsula is subjected to a baseline temperature reading before entering the Stafford Fire Department’s Station 1. If he has an abnormally high temperature, he would immediately be sent home or put into selfquarantine. That’s just one of several sweeping changes that have been necessitated in Sabrsula’s life and job description at Stafford FD, more than 18 years after he started there. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the station is also thoroughly cleaned and disinfected from top to bottom before any firefighter enters the station. “Our whole routine has changed,” he said. At SFD, firefighters have always worn gloves and eye protection as well as cloth masks to protect against smoke inhalation when responding to calls such as automobile or structure fires. However, first respond-
ers such as Sabrsula must now wear protective gowns and don specialized N95 masks on calls. “We use gowns everywhere now – we’ve usually never worn gowns on calls before,” Lt. Matthew Ricks said. Face shields are also a necessity for all personnel in order to respond to calls as protocols have evolved in light of COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus. As Sabrsula put it, that’s just their new normal in accompanying Fort Bend County EMS to any scene. “The whole pandemic has changed the way we’ve done things in the fire service. We haven’t really taken a step back, we just need to make sure we limit such exposure,” he said. “If one or two people can handle it, then that’s all that goes in. If more are needed, more go in. We’re more adapting to what they need instead of everyone going into the scene.” The mindset of firefighters hasn’t changed, according to Sabrsula. They are still preparing
for the worst-case scenario as a precaution before assessing the situation once they’re on the scene of a fire, or a call related to a mental health issue. Once they’re home, he said it’s much the same. Sabrsula has taken to doing his laundry at the station and changing before he goes home in order to protect his family at their home in Rosenberg. He has also been paying closer attention to the cleanliness of his hands as well as the equipment he uses at the station each day, even though he said it’s never been a duty he neglected. It’s not a drastic switch, Sabrsula said. It’s just a way of life for now as he gears toward a new type of responsibility. “I don’t want to say there hasn’t been anything difficult, but I think that being who we are, we’re adapting to what we’re coming up against,” he said. “(As firefighters) we adapt all the time, so this is second nature to us. We have a new normal. We’re just adapting and overcoming.”
By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Having been an officer with the Sugar Land Police Department for more than a decade, Sgt. Gregory Suter thought he had seen it all. But over the last two months, he and the rest of the SLPD have undergone a crash course in learning to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic that is unlike anything he’s ever seen. “We generally have contingency planning done for just about anything,” he said. “There’s not much that comes up in police work that we or another agency have not seen. It’s almost a checklist that we can go through. “But this is novel to us just like it is to the rest of the world.” Suter, who has been with SLPD since 2009 and served as a Patrol Sergeant for the agency since 2010, is one of dozens of officers who patrol six distinct beats around the city. As the outbreak has neared its peak in Fort Bend County,
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he said the types of calls have changed as well. Fewer and further between are typical criminal calls. Spiking are calls related to domestic violence and mental health issues, according to Suter. There are now certain calls, such as for property disputes, that officers are allowed to take over the phone to reduce the risk of COVID-19 contamination, while criminal calls and welfare checks still require an officer onsite. “It’s providing protection for both parties, but we’re still getting the police services done,” Suter said. “We still respond to certain calls, but we’ve given our officers tiered guidelines and protective gear to help navigate that process.” In addition to wearing gloves and N95 masks, gone is much of the typical face-to-face interaction between officer and resident, which Suter said has been challenging at times. “It used to be where if we were driving through a neighborhood and kids
were playing in the cul-desac, we could stop and let the kids climb around and explore the patrol car,” he said. “Now it’s just more of a wave or a verbal communication.” However, Suter said there have been instances where he and his fellow officers have experienced more interaction with the public. He said there is a renewed focus on patrolling parks, which are safe places for people to go, within each beat. “Just to see officers there with that wave and see that we’re around – even if we can’t physically walk up and shake hands with people anymore – is good for them,” he said. Suter is especially cautious when he returns home, because he does not want to expose his wife and kids. But decontamination has always been part of police work for him, which slightly eases the transition.
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