Medical team to arrive in Minnesota this weekend to help hospitals
[Registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., right, steps out of an isolation room where where Fred Rutherford, of Claremont, N.H., left, recovers from COVID-19 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Hospit]
Governor Tim Walz announced a series of emergency measures to provide more support to Minnesota hospitals as they deal with high patient counts brought on by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
A fourth federal medical team was secured to support Abbott Northwestern Hospital in the Twin Cities, and that more than 200 nurses and respiratory therapists are arriving to provide stopgap care at short-staffed Minnesota hospitals.
The measures will expand hospital capacity as Minnesota healthcare providers manage staffing and bed shortages during this case surge. Hospitalizations have risen as cases increased due to the Omicron variant: as of Wednesday, Minnesota hospitals are treating more than 1,540 COVID-19 patients, more than 50% percent higher than one month ago.
The team is scheduled to arrive Saturday, will be on site for 30 days, and will help give care and also relieve Abbott Northwestern staff, according to Walz’s office.
Previously, federal medical teams have provided staffing support at HCMC, M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital, and St. Cloud Hospital.
Each team was made of 22 medical personnel, and were sent to support staff members at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and at St. Cloud Hospital.
One month later, Walz announced a third federal emergency medical team was arriving in the state.
The third team was made of 14 doctors, nurses and hospital staff from the Department of Health and Human Services, and was deployed to M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina.