FEBRUARY 11, 2022 – At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approximately 220 military medical personnel, including medical doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists have deployed, or will deploy, within the next two weeks, in 14 teams to six states to support civilian healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients.
“Communities and healthcare facilities in certain areas remain heavily burdened by coronavirus-induced hospitalizations,” said Lt. Gen. John R. Evans Jr., U.S. Army North commander, in a news release Feb. 3. “We are proud of the role our military teams play in multiple medical centers supporting FEMA and the whole-of-government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Defense is only one of the several federal agencies to provide such assistance.”
The Department of Defense is beginning support in California, Connecticut, Louisiana and Oklahoma, and expanding support to Michigan and New York.
In California, one 15-person team from the Air Force will support Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.
In Connecticut, three 15-person teams from the Air Force will support Saint Francis Hospital and Hartford Hospital in Hartford and Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven.
In Louisiana, two 15-person teams from the Air Force will support St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe.
In Michigan, one 20-person team from the Army will support Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. This team will join two teams currently supporting Saginaw and Wyandotte.
In New York, two 15-person teams from the Air Force will support the State University of New York Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse and two 15-person teams from the Air Force will support the University of Rochester Medical Center–Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. These four teams join three teams currently supporting Brooklyn, the Bronx and Buffalo.
In Oklahoma, two 15-person teams from the Air Force will support Integris Baptist Medical Center and one 20-person team from the Army will support OU Health – University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
In addition to the aforementioned teams and locations, the joint Department of Defense effort currently includes seventeen teams working in 14 states – one in Arizona, one in Indiana, one in Maine, one in Maryland, one in Minnesota, one in Missouri, one in New Hampshire, one in New Jersey, two in New Mexico, two in Ohio, two in Pennsylvania, one in Rhode Island, one in Texas, one in Wisconsin – and one team in the Navajo Nation.
U.S. Army North, under U.S. Northern Command’s oversight, provides operational command of the teams.
On Dec. 30, 2021, the Secretary of Defense approved the activation of 1,000 military medical personnel to support the federal COVID-19 response mission. Five hundred of the 1,000 were made available to support requests for federal support on Jan. 15, 2022. The other 500 became available at the end of the month.
These 1,000 personnel join approximately 400 other military medical personnel, previously activated to provide assistance to civilian hospitals.
All of the personnel announced today are from the recently assigned additional forces. In total, more than 495 of the 1,000 additional forces are supporting or will soon support hospitals.
U.S. Army North (Fifth Army) Public Affairs