1:26
- ABC News
- September 12, 2021
How the National Guard helps hospitals in crisis
"They're in a bad way and we're really just helping to alleviate that workload."
1:26
Over two-thirds of Kentucky hospitals have critical staffing shortages as they're overrun with COVID-19 patients, and doctors are \"quickly approaching\" the point where they would need to ration care, Gov. Andy Beshear told CNN on Wednesday.
More than 100 soldiers and airmen had already been deployed to four hospitals, including The Medical Center at Bowling Green, when Beshear announced Friday that over 300 more will be sent to 21 additional hospitals in the state's largest-ever National Guard deployment for a health crisis.
\"Our hospitals are at a breaking point,\" Beshear said during a COVID-19 briefing Friday. \"We have 93 total ICU beds left statewide. That is one of the lowest numbers, I think they would tell you, in our lifetime.\"
More than 300 additional @KentuckyGuard members will be deployed to 21 strained hospitals. This is the largest deployment of the Guard for a health crisis in our history. We've asked a lot of these heroes, but every time we've asked, they've stepped up and served us proudly. pic.twitter.com/gu4rBO4Whw
— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) September 10, 2021
The announcement came a day after Kentucky set new records for its statewide COVID-19 testing positivity rate, reaching 14%, and the number of patients on ventilators, the governor said.
Kentucky is not the only state to turn to the National Guard for COVID-19-related hospital support in recent weeks.
Late last month, Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced the state was deploying up to 150 Guardsmen, among other personnel, to help overwhelmed hospitals.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/national-guard-hospitals-01-ap-llr-210911_1631365910882_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
More than 600 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Idaho, the highest on record for the state, as the number of intensive care unit beds dwindles and hospital staff are stretched thin. On Tuesday, Idaho public health leaders announced they had activated \"crisis standards of care\" for the state's northern hospitals, enabling them to ration care.
In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown announced last month she was deploying up to 1,500 National Guard members to hospitals around the state to provide support.
The service members have been met by applause by grateful health care workers as they've arrived at their hospitals.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/national-guard-hospitals-oregon-02-ap-llr-210911_1631365830264_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Over the past few weeks, they've helped with nonclinical tasks, including screening visitors at hospital entrances, manning COVID-19 hotlines and changing patients' bedding in the ICU.
Some have even used their talents to boost morale. Senior Airman Skadi Freyr of the Oregon National Guard has been playing piano during her lunch break while working at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
\"A beautiful moment of someone in uniform who was blessing us on her break with some beautiful music, which really was grounding for me, to remind me of the beauty and the good in the midst of this really hard time,\" OHSU oncology social worker Jen Smith told the Oregon National Guard last week.
Freyr said she doesn't have any plans to stop playing after seeing the impact on staff.
\"Now that I've seen that it has such a good sort of healing effect on people, it makes me more driven to do it, because I know that it's really gonna just help them,\" she said. \"And I really like to be of service.\"
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