Ohio National Guard to help local Mercy Health hospitals
Ohio National Guard members now being deployed to assist hospitals buckling under the weight of new COVID-19 hospitalizations will arrive first at Mercy Health hospitals in Youngstown and Warren, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff announced Wednesday.
“We’ve started in the areas with the most need, which is in the northern part of our state,” Vanderhoff told reporters during a Wednesday media briefing.
That includes Mercy Health’s St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and St. Joseph Warren Hospital, the first two sites listed during Vanderhoff’s address. Others include:
- Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center in Summit County;
- Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital in Stark County;
- Summa Health System Akron Campus in Summit County;
- ProMedica Toledo Hospital in Lucas County
- Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center in Lucas County.
Of the total 1,050 Guard members to be deployed this week and next, 150 are medical professionals like EMTs, he said. Six-hundred non-medical staff charged with tasks like patient transport and food service are expected to be deployed by the end of the week; another 300 are expected next week, he said.
Bon Secours Mercy Health issued a statement on the deployment Wednesday:
“Mercy Health - Youngstown is grateful to Gov. DeWine for providing additional resources to our hospitals during this extremely challenging time. We have been informed that 20 EMT-trained National Guardsmen will be assisting our teams as we continue to care for all those in our community as we work through this recent COVID-19 spike. We look forward to welcoming the men and women of the Ohio National Guard into our hospitals and will continue to work with the governor’s office to address critical staffing issues that impact the region.
“While we are thankful for assistance, Mercy Health asks that our communities do their part to stay safe as we enter this holiday season — including wearing masks when appropriate, frequent hand-washing, and avoiding contact with others if not feeling well. Additionally, we strongly recommend the COVID-19 vaccine because it is safe, highly effective and the way our communities will move beyond this pandemic.”
The state health department on Wednesday reported a new all-time record of 12,864 new COVID-19 cases statewide in the past 24 hours — about 360 cases more than the latest all-time record, reported Tuesday.
On Tuesday, there were nearly 4,800 people in Ohio hospitals fighting COVID-19, more than 1,200 of whom were in the ICU; nearly 800 on ventilators, Vanderhoff said. The vast majority are unvaccinated, health officials have repeatedly said.
More than 500 of those people were new admissions reported Tuesday.
“All these patients require time, staff and resources that are above and beyond what our hospitals are accustomed to handle at this time of year,” he said. “We should all be very concerned by the tidal wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations which, again, are drive largely by unvaccinated Ohioans.”