Conway native earns nickname ‘Covid Cowboy’ for efforts to keep his city safe

Conway, Arkansas – Ty Ledbetter is a Conway fireman and paramedic program director for the city.

However, he is living up to his new nickname, “COVID Cowboy” because of the dedication he has to help keep his city safe.

“So I’ve been called the COVID Cowboy,” says Ledbetter. “I guess because anything that has to do with COVID in the city I kind of have a part in it.”

Ledbetter helps keep track of the deadly virus and helps distribute the information found on the Conway Fire Department’s Facebook page.

“We’re kind of finding that balance between maintaining some sort of normalcy but also being on guard because there is a virus out there that can kill people and make people very sick,” he explains.

He works with city leaders to help find solutions for the virus. He says he knows when a plan works well by the data reported.

“I use the state website and it shows that there was a decline here compared to last week,” says Ledbetter.

As a fireman and father, he says it’s important to him to ensure that the public is receiving the latest information pertaining to the deadly virus so that they can understand how it impacts them.

“When this all first started we didn’t know what we were dealing with,” explains Ledbetter. “We were thinking we had a virus that was killing 11 percent of the population so we really had to come up with a plan.”

He says every day can bring new changes for novel coronavirus, however, he for him he only wants one thing.

“I have one priority and that priority is to keep the citizens of Conway safe – to keep our city employees safe and to do that while also allowing life to go on,” he says.

Ledbetter social media posts have received community engagement and he says he thinks the more people know the safe they can stay.

“Just do your part – it’s not all about one person it’s about taking care of those people that are most vulnerable,” he says.