Lt. Col. Seth Rogers, hospital relief mission joint task force commander, briefs senior staff members on administrative procedures at the Anderson Readiness Center in Salem on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. The deployment is the second iteration of nonclinical support for Oregon hospitals by the National Guard, which will grow to more 1,200 guard members by the end of January, filling critical hospital staffing shortages. {div id=”highlighter--hover-tools” style=”display: none;”} {/div}

LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon will see a return of National Guard members to beleaguered hospitals as yet another wave of the COVID-19 virus sweeps through the nation.

Gov. Kate Brown ordered a second relief mission earlier this month in support of Oregon’s hospitals. Nearly 1,200 service members across 40 hospitals were requested by the Oregon Health Authority. The expected deployment date is no later than Tuesday, Jan. 18, and is expected to continue until mid-April.

Hospitals set to receive aid from the National Guard include Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande; Good Shepherd Health Care System, Hermiston; Blue Mountain Hospital District, John Day; and Wallowa Memorial Hospital, Enterprise.

“Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics is extremely grateful for the guard members we will be receiving here to help us with staffing shortages in several of our key support services that have been severely impacted by the current labor market,” Mardi Ford, director of communications and marketing, said. “GRH is, and always has been, proud and supportive of our military.”

As before, the soldiers will be serving in nonclinical support roles, such as material handlers, equipment runners, COVID-19 testing support, custodial services and other logistical services.

“(Hospitals) were reporting that they were understaffed,” said Maj. Chris Clyne with the Oregon National Guard. “The nurses and doctors — you know, the clinical care providers — were having to take out the trash and do these menial tasks, and it was getting in the way of them providing the care to patients. That way they’re streamlined and they can just focus 100% on caring for the patients.”

According to Clyne, each hospital in Eastern Oregon would receive an average of five citizen-soldiers.

“We have been told that Blue Mountain Hospital District is set to receive five members of the Oregon National Guard next week,” Derek Daly, chief executive officer of Blue Mountain Hospital District, said. “We are thankful for these staffing resources and the support from the National Guard. We plan to utilize these team members to help in non-clinical positions, such as environmental services, across our campuses.”

Caitlin Cozad, marketing and communications director with Good Shepherd in Hermiston, said the hospital is expecting six guard member to support the hospital.

Wallowa Memorial Hospital welcomed five soldiers on Jan. 17.

“Wallowa Memorial Hospital was grateful to welcome five National Guard members,” said Brooke Pace, director of communications and public relations at Wallowa Memorial Hospital “We plan to utilize this additional personnel in various departments, from Environmental Services to hospital and clinic screening. The presence of five additional staff members helps ensure that we will continue to provide premier care to the people of Wallowa County in the face of yet another COVID-19 surge.”

Close to home

But as to why the Oregon National Guard deploys soldiers to support and logistical assignments at the hospitals instead of ones with medical training has a surprising reason behind it, according to guard officials. Medical staff in the Oregon National Guard often hold positions at local hospitals for their non-military job, Clyne said.

Many citizen-soldiers will be deployed to the communities in which they live, according to Clyne.

“One of the efforts that we’ve been making is to try to get (soldiers) in the location where they live,” Clyne said. “One of the things that we pride ourselves in is that we serve in the communities where we live. That’s one of the efforts and priorities that leadership has made, (to give guard members) that chance to serve as close to home as possible.”

The omicron variant has been rapidly spreading across Oregon and the nation, driving record-breaking infection rates and leading to shortages of testing kits and long lines at drive-thru testing clinics. According to OHA data, it is the prevailing variant in Oregon as of Jan. 2, accounting for nearly all new infections. At least one sequenced infection has been traced to Eastern Oregon, according to the OHA.

Data shows hospitalizations from the new circulating variant are lower, but the higher number of people infected has led to hospitalization levels similar to the previous delta variant.

The number of hospitalized patients at Oregon hospitals due to COVID-19 is 811 and climbing, as of Jan. 14, according to OHA data. The previous peak in hospitalization was Sept. 1, 2021, with 1,178 patients hospitalized due to the delta variant.

The Oregon National Guard was called in last August to help understaffed hospitals during the delta variant surge. Those soldiers remained at the hospitals until mid-December.

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