Washington state lawmakers plead with FEMA for more medical personnel and equipment
Provide us with sufficient medical personnel and equipment as part of the plan to provide field hospitals and clinics in Washington state, the state’s congressional delegation urged Peter Gaynor, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, Tuesday.
“Washington desperately needs additional bed capacity, but just as vital is that this additional capacity be accompanied by federal medical personnel and equipment,” the bi-partisan delegation wrote. “Anything short of this greatly jeopardizes the ability for Washington’s health care system to meet the urgent and growing needs of our communities.”
They noted a 148-bed field hospital with medical staff is being prepared to deploy to Washington from Fort Carson, Colorado.
But, the lawmakers wrote, “This initial deployment is still far short of the 1,000 beds and staff that would have come with the U.S.N.S. Mercy. We request a time line for exactly when the deployment from Fort Carson will be operational in Washington and when a decision about additional deployments of beds and medical personnel from federal agencies to Washington will be made.”
Washington officials had hoped the Mercy could go to the Puget Sound region, but it was sent to Los Angeles because more coronavirus cases are anticipated there.
In Washington, 12 new cases of coronavirus were reported Tuesday in Pierce County. There are now 138 positive cases with one death out of 2,627 tested in the county since the crisis began. Statewide, as of Monday afternoon, there were 2,221 positive cases and 110 deaths.
Washington has 1.7 hospital beds per 1,000 residents, significantly below the national average of 2.4 beds per 1,000 residents, the lawmakers said.
“We appreciate the additional bed capacity that we understand is set to be deployed to Washington,” the lawmakers wrote, but added, “it will fail to meet the State’s needs and the federal government’s goals in deploying such assets if it does not include additional medical personnel and equipment.”
They urged working with Defense Secretary Mark Esper as part of the effort.
They reminded Gaynor that Washington “is facing a crisis now. Hospitals in our State are already overwhelmed by the exponential growth in hospitalizations related to COVID-19.”
“Washington already faces an insufficient number of health care providers to handle the COVID-19 outbreak,” they said.
They noted:
▪ The state’s registered nurse to population ratio of 781 to 100,000 is below the national average of 825 RNs to 100,000 population.
▪ More than 2.2 million people in Washington live in a designated Primary Care Professional Shortage Area.
▪ Twenty-two percent of licensed physicians currently practice in other states.
“As the first and hardest hit region in the country by COVID-19 to date, the health care workforce in Washington has only been further strained. The number of available nurses and physicians has decreased due to fatigue and illness caused by the outbreak,” the delegation wrote.
And an estimated 35% of physicians are married to other physicians and have childcare responsibilities. An estimated 75% of nurses must either care for a child and/or an elderly relative at home.
“The necessary closure of schools and impact of the outbreak has led many of these health care workers to have to stay home to care for themselves and their families. The shortage of health care personnel in Washington resulting from the severity of the State’s COVID-19 outbreak is one that we desperately need the federal government to supplement,” they said.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 4:28 PM.
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