Feds Send Ambulances And Staff To Mecklenburg County After COVID-19 Surge

CHARLOTTE, NC — Help is on the way for Atrium Health following the dramatic surge of COVID-19 in North Carolina that exhausted many hospital resources, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Serivces.

The aid comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a staffing support request and will receive a 16-person National Disaster Medical System team as well as 25 additional Advanced Life Support ambulances.

The federal staffing team will arrive at Atrium Health Pineville Wednesday and remain on-site until Feb. 13 to support the medical surge in the emergency department. The team consists of five oversight and support personnel and 11 clinicians — one physician, two advanced practice providers, four registered nurses and four paramedics.

"We’re extremely grateful for the support of our state and federal governments, specifically Governor Cooper, NCDHHS and HHS, to share this team of medical professionals for our Atrium Health Pineville emergency department," said Dr. James Hunter, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Atrium Health. "Our dedicated health care heroes at Atrium Health have worked very hard throughout the pandemic, and like many others across the country, are feeling the effects of this latest surge."

That surge has exhausted resources and staff.

"We continue to find and deploy every available resource to deal with this surge of COVID-19 from the Omicron variant," said Susan Kansagra, Senior Deputy Director for the Division of Public Health. "Our hospitals continue to deal with near-record levels of patients, and this federal support is one of many levers we are using to meet demand."

This is also the second round of 25 ambulances provided this year for assistance statewide. Mecklenburg County will receive 7 additional ambulances with the other 15 distributed statewide as needed. Paramedics are also provided to staff them.