Members will help give hospitals more flexibility, Gov. Chris Sununu says
Members will help give hospitals more flexibility, Gov. Chris Sununu says
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Members will help give hospitals more flexibility, Gov. Chris Sununu says
Dozens of New Hampshire National Guard members will be deployed soon as part of the governor’s plan to help manage the winter surge of COVID-19 in the state.
Gov. Chris Sununu announced Wednesday that 70 Guard members will be assigned to work at hospitals dealing with a surge in patients. There are 462 active COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, the highest that number has been since the pandemic began.
“That’s a huge resource. They make it so easy,” Sununu said.
The Guard members will help hospitals with backroom tasks to allow those hospitals to use their internal staff in a more efficient way, Sununu said.
“We saw what the Guard did with PPE delivery, with the vaccination sites. I mean, it’s really great,” Sununu said.
Help is also coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A few dozen workers will be sent to New Hampshire to help hospitals with the highest COVID-19 burden. Plus, FEMA is also sending a team of 30 paramedics to help hospitals statewide, Sununu said.
Sununu also gave updates about other recent efforts to increase hospital capacity, including that the Executive Council has approved a $6 million contract for the previously announced “strike teams” to be put in a position to work with long-term care facilities to help manage hospital capacities.
A recent push to make the licensure process for health workers easier has resulted in 60 additional applications being approved this week, Sununu added.
** Town-by-town: COVID-19 case data | Vaccination data **
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