Soaring COVID demand continues to stress medical staffing resources at Eisenhower Health. Creative solutions were needed… and fast. This is the story of how 21 active-duty U.S. Air Force medical personnel flew in to assist Eisenhower Health and the Coachella Valley community to manage this unprecedented demand.
How did the Air Force medical personnel come to Eisenhower?
After exhausting normal channels to augment medical staffing—such as hiring traveling nurses and related medical personnel—Dr. Alan Williamson, Chief Medical Officer at Eisenhower Health, sent a request to the local public health department.
The creative solution? What ensued next was coordination across multiple local, state and national levels of government to create teams of highly-trained military medical personnel. These teams are then deployed to medical centers/hospitals experiencing surges of COVID patient demand that can’t be met by current staffing levels.
What does this team, which will remain at Eisenhower for 30 days, look like? Three doctors, 12 nurses, three respiratory technicians, two liaison officers and a physician’s assistant.
We weren’t expecting a team like this,” Williamson said. “They’ve been great to work with. They’re very can-do. They said, ‘Just tell us what you need us to do and we’ll figure out how to do it.’”
Eisenhower Health is one of five initial medical facilities across California to receive help from these COVID SWAT teams. Additional military medical teams are being developed as COVID demand continues to stress exhausted front-line medical personnel in hospitals and medical centers throughout California.
Eisenhower’s team of Air Force medical personnel arrived Thursday, July 16th to receive training and orientation; they began treating patients Saturday, July 18th. The 21-person team of medical personnel is expected to be with Eisenhower Health for 30 days. And they’re getting a warm welcome from Eisenhower’s grateful medical staff and the Coachella Valley community for each of those 30 days.
U.S. News & World Report has released its prestigious annual hospital rankings. Eisenhower Health ranks #1 in the Inland Empire and #12 in California. Eisenhower Health was also rated High Performing in 20 types of care — the highest number of specialty recognitions earned by a hospital in the Inland Empire.
Click Below to Learn More About Eisenhower Health’s Accreditations & Recognition
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