Lansing's Sparrow Hospital is 6th Michigan hospital to get federal COVID-19 medical team
More federal medical help is coming to Michigan, with Sparrow Hospital in Lansing becoming the sixth hospital in the state to get federal staffing assistance to treat patients in the coronavirus surge fueled by the omicron variant.
A 25-member medical team to support doctors and nurses will begin treating patients Feb. 7 and provide support for 30 days, the state health department said Monday.
"We are grateful for this assistance for our incredible Sparrow caregivers, who have been tirelessly protecting the community since this pandemic began," James Dover, Sparrow Health System president and CEO, said in a news release.
Michigan has had nine hospitals assessed, with federal teams allocated to or placed in six locations as of Monday, said Lynn Sutfin, spokesperson for the state health department.
Munson Healthcare in Traverse City; Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo and Beaumont Hospital, Troy have been validated at the federal level for teams and are awaiting additional teams to be made available, Sutfin said in an email to the Free Press.
"We continue to work with our hospitals and federal partners on the availability of additional teams to support hospital needs in the state," she said.
Five other Department of Defense teams have provided support at hospitals in Michigan: Beaumont Hospital, Dearborn; Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids; Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw; Mercy Health Muskegon, and Henry Ford Hospital in Wyandotte.
A civilian Disaster Medical Assistance Team was sent to Henry Ford Hospital in Wyandotte before being backfilled by a Defense Department team.
'Critical relief to Michigan's hospitals'
Michigan had about 13,124 new confirmed cases of the virus each day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, according to state data Monday. There were 4,033 patients — adults and children — hospitalized with the virus Monday.
Hospitalizations are starting to tick down, with Monday's total being 663 fewer COVID-19 patients than 10 days ago.
Whitmer said the federal partners are "providing critical relief to Michigan's hospitals.”
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Hospital workers have been on the front lines of the pandemic for nearly two years. They're exhausted and short-staffed, but patients continue to roll in.
Elizabeth Hertel, director of the state health department, said the medical teams are "providing much needed relief and a morale boost" for health care workers.
"We are renewing the call for Michiganders to do their part to support our state’s health care workers by getting vaccinated and boosted, if eligible, wearing a mask in public indoor settings regardless of vaccination status, social distancing and staying home and getting tested regularly," she said.
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'Decompress the emergency room'
Dover, in an interview with the Free Press, said one of the areas the federal team will help with is in the emergency room.
"It's not uncommon for, on a daily basis, we'll have 50 people who need to be admitted. We have no bed for them upstairs," he said.
He said the hospital plans to open a second overflow unit upstairs to "decompress the emergency room," benefiting COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
As of Monday, the health system had 180 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, ranging in age from 8 weeks to 98 years old. Of these 180 inpatients, 65% had not received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dover said the health system also has 135 staff members out with COVID-19. That's on top of it being down 1,300 positions across its 9,000-member staff.
"The virus is expanding still; it is not contracting. So as a result, we expect to see more patients coming," Dover said.
Dover said of the 558 patients who have died of COVID-19 across the health system since March 1, 2020, about 85% were not vaccinated.
Dover thanked Whitmer, who requested the federal assistance, and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, who he said has been "steadfast in advocating for boots-on-the-ground support for Sparrow in combating the huge surge of COVID cases among both patients and our caregivers."
Slotkin said that since December she has been hearing from Sparrow doctors and nurses "about how dire the COVID situation is and the desperate need for more staff. Our team has been working hard behind the scenes with the Governor’s Office, the White House, and the Department of Defense to get additional boots on the ground to help manage the immense strain on our health workers."
In a news release, she said she was encouraged to see six Michigan National Guardsmen arrive at the hospital a few weeks ago and is pleased more active duty help is on the way, adding that doctors, nurses and hospital staff "are exhausted and trying to keep our community institutions afloat. With the help of this federal team, I hope we can turn a corner for them and their families."
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In addition to getting vaccinated and boosted, health officials are encouraging people to upgrade their face masks to N95, KN95 or KF94 masks instead of cloth masks to reduce transmission.
The federal government plans to hand out free masks at pharmacies and has a website where people can sign up — COVIDtests.org — to get four free, rapid, at-home antigen COVID-19 tests per household mailed to them.
Because hospitals are overwhelmed, residents are asked to consider getting health care from their primary care doctor's office, via a virtual visit or at an urgent care unless they are experiencing emergencies such as stroke symptoms, chest pain, difficulty breathing, a significant injury or uncontrolled bleeding.
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New test sites in Dearborn, Warren
On Monday, officials in two metro Detroit communities announced U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-sponsored, free COVID-19 testing sites, one in Dearborn and another in Warren.
Sutfin and the CDC said these are the only two CDC-sponsored sites in Michigan at this time.
There is no age limit to be tested, but people under age 18 need parental consent. Testing is performed under contract through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Results will be delivered via email. Bring proof of your registration voucher on the day of your test.
To sign up for the CDC-sponsored Dearborn location, go to doineedacovid19test.com/Dearborn_MI_15279.html.
For the CDC-sponsored Warren location, go to doineedacovid19test.com/Warren_MI_15280.html.
Residents also can call 800-635-8611 for registration support, test results and questions.
Tests in Dearborn will be performed from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at Ford Field Park, south side parking lot, 22051 Cherry Hill St. Wayne County said in a release the tests will be PCR tests. There will be no rapid antigen tests.
Tests in Warren will be performed at the City Hall, 1 City Square, from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said in a news release that testing will be outside the City Hall seven days a week and continue through Feb 14. Testing will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., except on Mondays when it will be from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Fouts said that tests through Wayne Health will be moved to the Owen Jax Recreation Center starting this week through Feb. 17 for those who have signed up for testing. It will be the same drive-thru model.
Wayne County also is distributing 30,000 at-home COVID-19 tests to communities, excluding Detroit, which received its own tests, according to its news release. Residents can contact the community in which they live to inquire about the self-test kits.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sparrow Hospital getting federal medical team in COVID-19 surge
