May 26th, 2022
National Guard Troops deployed to Monroe Community Hospital departing
County Executive Adam Bello today thanked New York State National Guard troops for their tireless efforts to help alleviate healthcare staff shortages at Monroe Community Hospital (MCH) and other long-term healthcare facilities in Monroe County. In December 2021, the troops were deployed by Governor Kathy Hochul following a request from County Executive Bello. Bello declared a state of emergency for Monroe County in November 2021 following an uptick in hospitalizations due to COVID during the fall wave of the Omicron variant.
“Thank you, Governor Hochul, for your support during this state of emergency. Thank you to the men and women of the New York National Guard who left their homes and communities to help our community when COVID cases surged across Monroe County last fall and winter,” said Monroe County Executive Adam Bello. “Each soldier sacrificed time away from their families to ensure Monroe County’s residents could continue to receive critical healthcare services when staffing shortages depleted our healthcare systems’ resources. Our county is indebted to their lifesaving assistance.”
Over the term of the guard presence, Monroe Community Hospital accepted 182 patients and residents - 93 long-term care patients and 89 short-term rehab patients. This helped reduce the backlog of hospital beds for those who needed critical healthcare and surgeries. The National Guard also assisted at other local long-term care facilities in the community.
The Guard helped staff patient care and provided much-needed support for cooking and food service and to other departments that were short-staffed during the pandemic.
“MCH owes much to the New York National Guard for their outstanding service. Thank you to County Executive Bello for his help to bring them here to Monroe County,” said Monroe County Hospital Executive Health Director, Alyssa Tallo. “We are incredibly grateful for both and proud of our ongoing efforts to help alleviate overcapacity at area hospitals, as we continue to feel the effects of COVID. The support of the Guard was truly critical in allowing us to care for dozens of admissions, who we would otherwise have not been able to accept.”
More than 100 guard members from all over New York State served at MCH. Many of the National Guard troops brought in to assist Monroe County Hospital are fully certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) with experience in treating wounded soldiers.
