Updated at 5:53 p.m.
Dozens of federal medical personnel have been deployed to Vermont to help alleviate hospital capacity issues caused by Covid-19, according to the White House.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a series of emergency measures to address the current coronavirus surge and prepare for the spread of the more contagious Omicron variant.
Among those measures is the deployment of “emergency response teams” to six states experiencing surges. Doctors, nurses and paramedics will immediately deploy to Vermont, according to a White House fact sheet, as well as New Hampshire, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Arizona.
Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending 30 paramedics to Vermont to help transport patients that cannot be accommodated at local hospitals.
“Our doctors, nurses, hospital staffs have gone above and beyond during this pandemic,” Biden said. “The strain, the stress, is real. I really mean it — it’s real. We’ll have their backs, though. We have to let them know we have their backs.”
Last Friday, 20 paramedics and emergency medical technicians arrived at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, and 10 more were deployed to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, according to Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. Four have since been redeployed to other hospitals, according to a statement from the UVM Medical Center.
Those personnel serve as “extenders of care,” according to the hospital. “They will provide support with basic activities of daily living for patients, performing vital signs, helping with patient mobility — such as turning in bed, getting to a chair, or walking — and providing other non-clinical assistance like ensuring supplies are ready for patients.”
The support staff will remain through Dec. 31, the hospital said.
So far, FEMA has deployed three ambulance teams to Vermont, Smith said. The state has also contracted with private out-of-state services to provide three more. Those teams will help deliver monoclonal antibody treatments, Smith said, and will provide support during the anticipated post-holiday surge.
Biden also announced national measures to respond to the anticipated Omicron surge, including releasing stockpiles of personal protective equipment, expanding access to vaccination clinics and purchasing 500 million rapid tests to distribute to Americans at no cost.
Hospital leaders have been raising alarms for several weeks that surging patient volumes, driven in part by Covid patients who are largely unvaccinated, are impeding their ability to provide care. Emergency departments are full, larger hospitals have been unable to accept transfers of patients needing specialized care, and many providers — including UVM Medical Center — have suspended some nonessential procedures.
Doing so allowed UVM to increase intensive care beds, Patrick Bender, the hospital’s chief quality officer, said in a statement on Tuesday. “But each decision we make to address the pandemic impacts people — our patients and our staff. This support from FEMA is helping us to manage some of the impact on our people and our patients.”
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