BANGOR, Maine — Reaction from several Maine hospitals about Gov. Janet Mills’ announcement to deploy National Guard members to health care facilities has been positive.
The Mills administration’s deployment plan to expand hospital capacity is expected to open an estimated 80 additional inpatient hospitals beds to care for Mainers.
At St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, officials said they had discussed options for weeks with the governor’s office but just received the good news Monday night. The hospital will receive four members of the National Guard.
Dr. David Koffman with St. Joseph Hospital said the National Guard members will perform non-clinical duties. They will be assigned to the hospital’s monoclonal antibody clinic. Koffman said the deployment would also help patients who need a little extra time at the hospital.
“They can’t go home, or they might need 24-hour care, and their families can’t necessarily provide that. Or they might need some additional physical therapy that could be provided in a skilled nursing facility, but there are no beds available,” Koffman said. “So, this deployment of the National Guard should help open up some of those beds and allow us to get those patients who are ready to leave out of our hospital so we have room for other patients who are coming into the hospital.”
In a statement, Mills' office said, in part, "We will continue to work closely with our health care and federal partners to monitor the capacity of our system and to take action when and where it is needed in order to support Maine people. Ultimately, the best and most effective way to relieve the burden on our heroic health care workers is to heed their advice: get vaccinated.”
Northern Light Health President and CEO Tim Dentry said in a statement, “We thank Gov. Mills and her administration for providing these additional resources, which will help to keep patients out of critical care and provide support for our already stressed staff during this difficult period of the pandemic. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the administration to get more Mainers vaccinated, which is the most important step people can take.”
For more information on the deployments, click here.