Governor Mills Announces Additional Maine National Guard Deployment to Support Hospitals In Responding to COVID-19 Surge

Statement

Governor Janet Mills announced today that she will activate up to an additional 169 members of the Maine National Guard to help alleviate short-term capacity constraints at hospitals and maintain access to inpatient health care for Maine people amid record-high COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The Governor today directed the activation of these additional Guard members to serve in non-clinical support roles at health care facilities across the state. The Guard members will help hospitals maintain capacity by freeing up clinical staff to focus on patient care. Their assistance will also open additional beds at nursing facilities, in swing bed units, and at other "decompression sites" that accept patients discharged from hospitals. This, in turn, will allow hospitals to safely discharge more individuals, relieving a bottleneck that will then allow hospitals to provide inpatient care for more people with COVID-19 and ensure delivery of health care for other serious health problems. The National Guard members will deploy next week and remain in service through the end of February 2022. The Mills Administration will release the deployment locations, which are being finalized and are subject to change, later this week.

"I wish we did not have to take this step, but the rise in hospitalizations -- caused primarily by those who are not vaccinated -- is stretching the capacity of our health care system thin, jeopardizing care for Maine people, and putting increased strain on our already exhausted health care workers," said Governor Janet Mills. "The National Guard have been an invaluable asset during this public health emergency, and with this new order, we are hopeful that our hospitals will be able to open more beds to provide for surge care. Of course, the most fundamental way to help our hospitals maintain capacity and give our health care workers a much-needed break is to follow their advice and get vaccinated. It may save your life or someone else's."

Source