Wisconsin Asking FEMA to Help Staff at Overwhelmed Hospitals

Thursday, December 9th, 2021 -- 2:00 PM

(Bob Hague, WRN) Federal support is being requested for Wisconsin hospitals inundated with COVID-19 patients.

With barely over 56 percent of the state fully vaccinated for COVID-19, hospitals are critically short of beds, and are also contending with staffing shortages. Health Services Secretary designee Karen Timberlake says they’re requesting support teams from FEMA.

“At the moment we’re looking at regaional FEMA teams, as many as five.” Timblerake says that could put up to 100 additional people into Wisconsin hospitals. “The real strategy here is to use those staff strategically to free up capacity in our ICUs.”

Timberlake says they’re requesting five 20 person support teams from FEMA. “Obviously FEMA resources have some limits to them as well. So what we need to do is ask for what we think is in the best interest of our state, and then work obviously with federal partners to make sure that we can get what we need across our state.”

The request comes amid a critically low number of beds, and staffing challenges, as Wisconsin hospitals deal with a wave of largely unvaccinated COVID patients.

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