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News | Jan. 28, 2022

Military hospital support to FEMA to begin in Maine, Maryland, expands in three states

By U.S. Army North Public Affairs

At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approximately 115 military medical personnel, including medical doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists, have deployed or will deploy in five teams, to five states to support civilian healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients.

“As we have seen at other times during the pandemic, a rise in hospitalizations from COVID-19 starts at different times in different locations,” said Lt. Gen. John R. Evans, Jr., U.S. Army North commander. “Our long-established relationship with FEMA in each of its ten regions allows us to approach this volatility from a position of strength and, in partnership with federal, state, and local authorities, and civilian hospital staff, alleviate the suffering of those hardest hit.”

The Department of Defense is beginning support in Maine and Maryland, and expanding support in Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio.

In Maine, a 15-person team from the U.S. Air Force will support Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

In Maryland, a 40-person team from the U.S. Navy will support Adventist HealthCare Alternate Care Site in Takoma Park.

In Michigan, a 20-person team from the U.S. Army is supporting Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. This team joins five other teams located in Dearborn, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Muskegon, and Wyandotte.

In Minnesota, a 20-person team from the U.S. Army will support Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. This team is in addition to the support that previously occurred in Minneapolis and St. Cloud, both of which ended recently.

In Ohio, a 20-person team from the U.S. Army will support Summa Health System – Akron Campus in Akron. This team joins the team currently supporting Cleveland.

In addition to the aforementioned teams and locations, the joint DoD effort currently includes fourteen teams working in ten states – one in Arizona, one in Indiana, one in New Hampshire, one in New Jersey, two in New Mexico, three in New York, two in Pennsylvania, one in Rhode Island, one in Texas, one in Wisconsin – and one team in the Navajo Nation. 

U.S. Army North, under U.S. Northern Command’s oversight, provides operational command of the teams.

On Dec. 30, 2021, the Secretary of Defense approved the activation of 1,000 military medical personnel to support the federal COVID-19 response mission. Five hundred of the 1,000 were made available to support requests for federal support on Jan. 15, 2022. The other 500 will become available at the end of the month.  

These 1,000 personnel join approximately 400 other military medical personnel, previously activated to provide assistance to civilian hospitals.

All of the personnel announced today are from the recently assigned additional forces. In total, 275 of the first 500 of these 1,000 additional forces are supporting or will soon support hospitals.