LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Kentucky hospitals continue to deal with an influx of COVID-19 patients, 45 additional National Guard members are arriving in Louisville to help.
Guard members will go to University Hospital, Baptist Health Louisville and Baptist Health Hardin to complete non-clinical jobs, allowing hospital staff to focus on their patients.
Governor Andy Beshear said medical facilities are doing everything they can to reduce the strain, like canceling elective surgeries and turning operating rooms into more beds for the ICU.
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According to the governor, more than two-thirds of Kentucky hospitals are experiencing "critical staffing shortages" during the pandemic.
“This shows that every hospital is bursting at the seams, that they desperately need help and that we are a state full of more desperately sick people than we have ever seen,” said Gov. Beshear.
“I believe this is the largest deployment of the Guard in this crisis health care situation in our history. Every time we’ve asked, they’ve stepped up and served us so proudly.”
The state already has around 400 National Guard members across facilities in the state, helping out where they're needed.
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