Rhode Island is mobilizing an additional 30 members of the National Guard to ease pressure on already understaffed hospitals that are dealing with the latest surge in coronavirus cases, Gov. Dan McKee said Tuesday.
The guard members will be deployed to Our Lady of Fatima, Kent, Landmark, Newport, Roger Williams, Rhode Island, South County, and Women and Infants hospitals, as well as the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital, the Democratic governor said at a news conference.
The state had previously mobilized about 60 guard members to Butler Hospital, a psychiatric facility.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Callahan, adjutant general of the Rhode Island National Guard, said the guard members will perform such tasks as patient monitoring, in-hospital patient transportation and screening, freeing up health care professionals to focus on patient care.
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Rhode Island will also ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency to extend the stays of military medical teams helping at Rhode Island and Kent hospitals.
President Joe Biden deployed the military medical teams to several states around the country last month in an effort to ease staff shortages at overwhelmed medical facilities.
