Gov. Beshear: More Than 300 Additional Guard Members Will Support Strained Hospitals Across Kentucky

Governor also recognized nursing students helping health care systems amid COVID-19 surge

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2021) – On Thursday during his weekly Team Kentucky update, Gov. Andy Beshear said more teams from the Kentucky National Guard will arrive over the next week at strained Kentucky hospitals. Assisting with nonclinical functions within the hospitals to allow hospital staff to focus on patient care, 310 additional Guard members will support 21 hospitals around the commonwealth.

“This shows that every hospital is bursting at the seams, that they desperately need help and that we are a state full of more desperately sick people than we have ever seen,” said Gov. Beshear. “I believe this is the largest deployment of the Guard in this crisis health care situation in our history. Every time we’ve asked, they’ve stepped up and served us so proudly.”

More than 100 Guard members already are assisting at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, Appalachian Regional Healthcare in Hazard, The Medical Center at Bowling Green and Pikeville Medical Center. The additional teams will support:

• T.J. Samson Community Hospital, Glasgow;
• Taylor Regional Hospital, Campbellsville;
• Ohio County Hospital, Hartford;
• Manchester Hospital, Manchester;
• CHI Saint Joseph Health, London;
• Baptist Health Hospital, Corbin;
• Baptist Health Hospital, Elizabethtown;
• Baptist Health Hospital, Lexington;
• Baptist Health Hospital, Louisville;
• Baptist Health Hospital, Paducah;
• Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center, Prestonsburg;
• Tugvalley ARH Regional Medical Center, South Williamson;
• Middlesboro ARH Hospital;
• Harlan ARH Hospital;
• Mercy Health - Lourdes Hospital, Paducah;
• UofL Hospital, Louisville;
• TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital, Bowling Green;
• Rockcastle Regional Hospital, Mount Vernon;
• Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital, Somerset;
• Kentucky River Medical Center, Jackson; and
• St. Elizabeth Covington Hospital.

“In coordination with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, we’ve now mobilized more than 400 soldiers and airmen to help provide logistical and administrative support to 25 hospitals across the commonwealth,” said Brig. Gen. Bryan Howay, director of the joint staff, Kentucky National Guard. “Supporting this critical mission impacts our service members as well since we’re part of the same communities we’re assisting. While our mission is temporary, it serves to highlight the importance of wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and most importantly, getting vaccinated.”

Brett Weber, vice president and chief operations officer at ATA College, joined Gov. Beshear to provide an update on 40 nursing students who answered the call to support hospital teams at Kindred Hospital in Louisville, Isaiah House Treatment Center in Willisburg and Signature Healthcare locations across the commonwealth.

“We have been working with a number of hospitals, nursing homes and health care facilities in the area to provide support during the pandemic,” said Weber. “Our students have been able to gain valuable knowledge and real-word experience by providing direct patient care at these facilities. Not only are our students helping with the shortage that exists at these facilities by providing direct patient care, but they’re also preparing for long-term careers in the health care field, and there’s a dire need for that right now.”