More than 500 experienced healthcare professionals from out of state will be deployed to 19 hospitals statewide in the coming weeks with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Hawai`i will receive $46 million in federal funding to bring in traveling healthcare workers through staffing services from ProLink Healthcare. They are expected to work in Hawai`i for eight weeks each.
This is the second time during the pandemic that Hawai`i has received surge staff support. Last September, the Hawai`i Department of Health in collaboration with the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, secured $14 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to bring in 140 traveler staff for hospitals, and secured another $3 million to bring in 70 healthcare staff to assist long-term care providers.
In the first round of staffing last fall, more than 200 out-of-state nurses and other specialists were deployed to hospitals over a four-month period to supplement local hospital staff. Dr. Elizabeth Char, director of the Department of Health, served as lead medical advisor on the initial contract with ProLink Healthcare, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based healthcare staffing company. The earlier contract with ProLink has been extended to meet the current staffing needs.
“The needs in the hospitals have dramatically increased primarily because of the highly transmissible delta variant. Our emergency rooms, medical-surgical units and intensive care units are being overwhelmed with patients who have not been vaccinated,” said HAH President and CEO Hilton Raethel. “Access to staffing resources is critically important for all of the acute facilities to improve access to care. The speed at which this has come together has been outstanding, and we are grateful for the continued partnerships.”
Specialized personnel will augment local healthcare staff at Kuakini Medical Center, The Queen’s Medical Center (in Honolulu, West O`ahu, Molokai General, and North Hawai`i), Adventist Health Castle, Hilo Medical Center, Hale Ho`ola Hamakua, Kona Community Hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center, Wahiawa General, Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center, Straub Medical Center, Kapi`olani Medical Center for Women and Children, Pali Momi Medical Center, Wilcox Medical Center, Kaua`i Veterans Memorial Hospital, Samuel Mahelona Medical Center, and Hawai‘i State Hospital.
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