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ST. GEORGE — Hospital officials in St. George seeking a solution to an unusual crisis have found a unique temporary fix, thanks to the Utah National Guard.
Working in health care has been extra difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as the omicron variant continues to sweep through Utah.
"It's just been a struggle to hire. It's been really hard for the last two years under COVID to be in health care, it's a difficult time," said Mark Evans, St. George Regional Hospital's operations officer.
Evans said that on top of workers having to take sick leave, some people are even leaving the field of health care as the pandemic continues. In response to the shortage of health care workers, the Utah National Guard on Tuesday was deployed to St. George Regional Hospital, marking the first time the Utah Guard has been deployed to a hospital setting in Utah.
"(Intermountain Healthcare) reached out to ask if the Guard could help support some of the staff shortages the hospital is seeing as they have staff members out with COVID or if they've left the health care system because of the hard work they've done over the last two years," said Lt. Col Erick Wiedmeier with the Utah National Guard COVID-19 Joint Task Force.
The Guard will provide nonclinical assistance at the hospital as patient volumes have spiked to the highest levels of the pandemic as the omicron surge has significantly impacted staffing.
Guard members will be working in housekeeping services, doing things such as cleaning patient rooms and cleaning common areas as well as working in food services, allowing the hospital to continue to provide meals for patients and staff.
"Our nursing staff and our patient care staff — we don't want them doing that — we want them taking care of the patients," Evans added. "We're trying to be as creative as we can, but this will help them continue and actually keep doing the things that go that extra mile for our caregivers who are working so hard."
The deployment will last for two weeks, after which the Utah National Guard and St. George Regional Hospital will evaluate whether the Guard's services are still needed.
"If the service members are able to stay on mission and the hospital still needs our support, then we can stay longer," Wiedmeier said.
Evans said the extra assistance provided by the Utah National Guard in a time of need means a lot to the hospital.
"It means that people care and people listen and they see the struggle that our caregivers have gone through," he said.
"It makes a huge difference to know that we're not forgotten and our teams are not forgotten. We're extremely grateful for this opportunity to partner with the Guard. Our staff is excited to have them here," Evans added.
"Utah National Guard members have provided invaluable assistance to the (Utah Department of Health) during the pandemic across multiple mission areas. Early in the response, the Utah Guard was instrumental in the activation of our alternate care site at the Mountain America Expo Center, and now we rely on them for the first deployment into one of Utah's hospitals," Kevin McCulley, the department's director of preparedness and response, said in a statement.
"This support has been essential throughout the response, and even more so as they activate to support health care facilities."
Wiedmeier added that all of the Guard members deployed to St. George Regional Hospital are vaccinated for COVID-19.
"The Utah Guard and the service members that we have here are honored to be part of the community and to support the community in their time of need," he said.
"Health care providers and workers at the hospital have been doing the majority of the work for two long years and are really the unsung heroes of (the) COVID pandemic. For the Guard to be able to step in and support and alleviate some of the strain and stress that has been caused by the pandemic is an honor," he added.
