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Andrew Bohnert, 22, was probably expecting a nice, peaceful transition into the workforce. That’s not what he got.
The interim Director for the Perry County Emergency Agency who started last December in the position, but has been with the department since last May and would have graduated this spring from Southeast Missouri State University if not for the COVID-19 pandemic has had to transition into a different mindset.
“It’s definitely like being thrown into the fire,” Bohnert said. “I’m still getting used to everything and it’s a new experience every day.”
The Perry County Emergency Agency is traditionally concerned with disasters such as tornados, earthquakes, and other natural phenomenon. But with the current crisis, the focus has shifted to COVID-19.
Bohnert has been in charge of the Emergency Operations Center and been on twice daily conference calls with local government leaders leading up to and during the county-wide shutdown. Bohnert said that the calls have been reduced to one per day.
“We are just getting together and discussing what can be done to keep the county safe and making those hard decisions together.” Bohnert said. “It’s definitely things I wouldn’t want to do on my own.”
One of those hard decision was when and how to put into action the county-wide shutdowns. Bohnert has also been key in ordering personal protection equipment for county police and firefighters. But the most difficult was shutting down the restaurants and other eating establishments.
“Nobody wants to see that,” Bohnert said of the shutdown, “but it’s something that had a lot of deliberation among the leaders on the call.”
Bohnert is a graduate of Saxony Lutheran High School and is in his final year of college at SEMO, where he studied Emergency Management.
As part of his Emergency Management courses, Bohnert has plenty of experience with different case studies and exercises on pandemics in the past such as the 1918 Spanish Flu.
“But there’s nothing that compares to it in real life,” Bohnert said. “It’s really interesting comparing the coronavirus to all those other outbreaks that I’ve learned about.
The saving grace of sorts for Bohnert was that he knew before hand that he would be taking his current position with the Perry County Emergency Agency, so he prepared by taking 18 hours last semester to put less on his plate in the spring.
“On the bright side I’ve had more time to devote to the job. I don’t know how I would have dealt with schoolwork on top of it. I would have been very busy.”
While he doesn’t seem rattled by any of the decisions he is forced to make, and has even come up with some ideas. Bohnert, a Perry County native, is drawing off some past experience.
“During the Perryville tornado, there was a list of things that happened I want to use those ideas and transition it to our current pandemic.” Bohnert said.
However it plays out, Bohnert will be ready for whatever comes next.
“I’m just moving from one thing to another trying to help as many people as I can,” Bohnert said.
