Minnesota National Guard deployed to area long-term care facilities.

(KNSI) –

The first three National Guard skilled-nursing response teams have been deployed to support long-term care facilities facing severe staffing shortages.

According to a press release issued Monday, today’s actions are the latest from the Walz-Flanagan Administration to support long-term care facilities and hospitals facing bed shortages and staffing gaps during the current wave of COVID-19 infections. Additionally, a fourth alternative care site will open this week to which hospitals can send non-critical patients as they work to open bed space for those sick with COVID-19.

Fifty National Guard service members will provide staffing support to North Ridge Health and Rehab in New Hope, Mille Lacs Health System Long Term Care in Onamia, and PioneerCare in Fergus Falls. The response teams are arriving today and will begin providing care on Tuesday. In addition to today’s deployments, more long-term care sites around the state will receive National Guard response teams later this week.

About 400 National Guard members have been trained as certified nursing assistants and temporary nursing aides and will deploy as response teams to qualifying Minnesota long-term care facilities.

A fourth facility will open this week as an alternative care site to accept and treat certain patients from Twin Cities hospitals. Benedictine Living Community-Regina in Hastings will be able to accept up to 17 patients from surrounding hospitals. A team of nurses will provide transitional care to patients who are currently hospitalized, allowing hospitals to treat those sick with COVID-19 and others requiring emergency care. It joins Cerenity Marian (27 beds), Good Samaritan Society – Bethany in Brainerd (34 beds) and Benedictine St. Gertrude’s in Shakopee (27 beds) in providing transitional care to patients.

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