State personnel, including National Guard medical unit, arrive at Modesto-area hospitals
Three Modesto-area hospitals have requested additional personnel from the state to provide assistance as COVID-19 cases throughout the county increase and hospitals continue to see a surge of patients.
Staff are deployed to local hospitals through the State Operations Center Medical and Health Operational Area Coordinator (MHAC) program, a “mutual aid” system that deploys personnel across each designated region in the state. According to county spokesman Royjindar Singh, the MHAC is coordinated through the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to provide additional staffing and resources throughout the counties in the region.
Stanislaus County hospitals were able to request staffing through the county, Singh said, which would coordinate with the state to best deploy additional personnel.
According to the county Health Services Agency, Stanislaus County has reported 9,566 positive cases of coronavirus as of Friday evening, up 158 from Thursday. Another 53,378 residents have tested negative, and 8,683 are presumed recovered.
The Modesto-area hospitals that received additional staffing are Memorial Medical Center, Oak Valley Hospital and Doctors Medical Center. Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock had initially asked for staff, but later withdrew its request, Singh confirmed.
Through the state MHAC program, both Doctors Medical Center and Memorial Medical Center are being supported by a National Guard Regional Medical Support Team (RMST), Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Shiroma, the public affairs director for the California Military Department, wrote in an emailed statement.
“Each RMST is led by a physician’s assistant or registered nurse and supported by 4-6 military medics (equivalent to a licensed vocational nurse),” he said.
Oak Valley Hospital has received two ICU nurses, who are expected to stay through at least the end of August, said Joann Saporito, the hospital’s vice president of nursing. Saporito added that they will be helping the hospital’s current staff, which operates a five-bed ICU and is seeing about one to two COVID-19 patients a day.
Doctors Medical Center has received two respiratory therapists, according to spokeswoman Krista Deans, and six medics were due to arrive Friday for a period of three days. The hospital operates 44 adult ICU beds, and the temporary staff will assist in better staffing those existing beds.
A spokesperson for Sutter Health’s Memorial Medical Center said in an emailed statement that the hospital is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 positive patients.
“We have accessed staffing resources through Sutter’s integrated network and activated additional resources like traveling nurses and temporary staff to handle this increase in patients,” the spokesperson said. “As an additional support measure, the hospital had seven health care workers deployed by the state join the team for a limited time frame.”
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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This story was originally published August 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
