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115 FEMA-funded nurses arrive to support Queen's Health Systems

More than 100 medical workers funded mostly by FEMA arrived in Hawaiʻi over the weekend and have started orientation and deployment to The Queen's Medical Center-Punchbowl and The Queen's Medical Center-West Oahu. (Jan. 17, 2022)
Courtesy
/
The Queen's Health Systems
More than 100 medical workers funded mostly by FEMA arrived in Hawaiʻi over the weekend and have started orientation and deployment to The Queen's Medical Center-Punchbowl and The Queen's Medical Center-West Oahu. (Jan. 17, 2022)

The first wave of medical workers funded mostly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have arrived in the Islands to support staff at two Queen’s hospitals on Oʻahu.

More than 100 nurses, respiratory therapists and a radiologic technologist arrived over the weekend. They will be deployed to the emergency department, intensive care unit and medical-surge units at the Queen’s Medical Centers in West Oʻahu and Honolulu.

The Queen’s Health Systems reports that 800 of its medical staff are out of work due to either infection or exposure to the coronavirus – or they are caring for someone with COVID.

Last week, Queen’s declared an internal state of emergency for its West Oʻahu campus and its Punchbowl campus.

The declaration sets off protocols designed to ease the strain on emergency rooms while ensuring proper levels of care for patients. The hospitals remain open.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health reported 4,700 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. The state said 346 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Hawaiʻi reported a record 6,252 new COVID-19 cases.

About 75% of Hawaiʻi residents have been fully vaccinated.

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