Federal Reinforcements Arrive At Rhode Island's Kent Hospital

WARWICK, RI — The first teams of federal health care workers have arrived in Rhode Island, Gov. Dan McKee announced Wednesday. The second team is expected by the end of the week.

The Health and Medical Task Force arrived at Kent Hospital Tuesday. The team of 14 people will provide staffing support in the emergency, medical and surgical departments.

The second team, consisting of 23 people, will be stationed in Rhode Island Hospital's Emergency Department for at least 30 days.

"While our whole of government COVID response team continues to pursue every available resource to support critical hospital staffing needs, we are encouraged by the arrival of emergency medical personnel that our administration requested through FEMA in December," McKee said. "We thank President Biden for fulfilling our request and getting personnel on the ground quickly. We will continue to build on our comprehensive plan to address hospital staffing needs and work closely with hospital leadership and other stakeholders to find and deliver solutions."

President Joe Biden announced the federal support last week. Rhode Island was one of six states chosen to receive extra staffing support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Read more: Federal Teams To Address Staffing Shortages At RI, Kent Hospitals