Maryland National Guard provides support to nursing homes
By Capt. Benjamin Hughes, Maryland National Guard Public Affairs Office
To protect the most vulnerable among us, the Maryland National Guard is proactively supporting the Maryland Department of Health in the state’s COVID-19 mitigation and suppression efforts with multi-discipline medical assistance teams to help safeguard the citizens at nursing homes facilities across the state.
As directed by Governor Larry Hogan, the teams will help identify potential and existing needs and strengthen facility policies, protocols, and procedures in line with state and federal guidance related to COVID-19 and immediately adopt a series of enhanced protective measures to protect those with underlying health conditions. Initial assessment is done by telephone, followed by a visit to the facility.
“The residents of these facilities are at high risk,” said Col. Eric Allely, M.D., the Maryland National Guard state surgeon. “We need to help identify and rapidly fill any resource gaps that the facilities may have due to the current pandemic with a focus on elevating the level of medical care typically available in these facilities.”
Assistance teams will be led by a medical doctor or advanced medical practitioner. They will also include a field medic and administrative, logistical, and behavioral health specialists, and drivers. All Guard members who will be in close contact with residents of nursing homes will have the proper personal protective equipment, including a face mask, appropriate eye protection, gloves, and gown. Team members are being drawn from the 224th Area Support Medical Company, 104th Area Support Medical Company and Maryland National Guard Medical Detachment.
“Our goal is to bring medical care for lower urgency conditions to the residents rather than transporting them to emergency departments where they may be exposed to the COVID-19 virus,” said Allely. “In addition to protecting the residents of these facilities, our efforts help decompress the patient load in emergency rooms and hospitals, opening beds for to the growing number of patients in need of those resources.”
In addition to the assistance teams being provided by the Guard, the state is deploying testing and care teams, which the National Guard may assist or augment, if needed. The testing teams, led by the state and county health departments, will screen residents and workers at facilities with active COVID-19 cases. The care teams, led by local hospitals, will determine what additional personnel and support can be sent directly to the facilities in order to provide on-site care and to prevent transport to any hospital.
For more information about the statewide Medical Support Teams activated by the Governor, please contact the Maryland COVID-19 Joint Information Center:
pio.mema@maryland.gov
For information and resources regarding COVID-19, visit: www.coronavirus.maryland.gov
