CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the West Virginia National Guard are standing down from a deployment of several weeks in West Virginia hospitals. The guard deployed 354 service members to 38 healthcare outlets across the state. Friday marked the end of the deployment as hospital numbers for Covid 19 dwindled across the state.
“They were helping out with laundry, lab, food services, sitting with patients, and screening patients,” said Dr. John Bishara.
Bishara is a member of the National Guard’s 130th Airlift Wing and is also a doctor at CAMC’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Members of the Guard were welcomed at his hospital and every other healthcare outlet with open arms.
“You had physicians, CEO’s, nurses, CNA’s who would come and greet them and just thank them for their service,” he explained.
The Guard members were prepared if they were forced into duty with direct patient care, they had received some basic training to be prepared ahead of the deployment. However, most of their work was in support roles. Many hospitals struggled to maintain housekeeping staff and clerical and administrative workers amid the pandemic. The void left Guard members handling linen service, cleaning rooms, screening patients, and doing a lot of admissions work and paperwork.
“That help and that assistance allowed the hospital staff to better do their jobs. They were more focused mentally on their patients,” Bishara explained.
As covid cases have waned and the hospitalization numbers have dropped the short handed status isn’t as dramatic for hospitals and clinics. However, it didn’t mean hospitals weren’t sad to see them go. Some hospitals even extended employment opportunities to Guard members who were deployed.
Bishara said it was another example of the versatility of the National Guard soldiers and airmen.
“You have service members who are soldiers or are deployed front line infantrymen and women and they were sitting with patients. They were taking the stress of patient transport and just helping with the cleaning of rooms so we could get patients in and out,” he explained.
“Graveyard shifts, overnight shifts, a lot of them helped out with linen. Wherever they were needed, they were happy to do it. They were working long hours, 12 hours shifts three days a week and they were happy to do it,”