California National Guard medical corps pitches in to help struggling hospitals

Melissa Quintero takes blood from a patient inside a hallway in the emergency department at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley. The medical center is currently receiving support from the California National Guard. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Dec 30, 2020 / 07:23 PM PST

Updated: Dec 30, 2020 / 07:23 PM PST

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

As hospitals are slammed by waves of COVID-19 patients, the California National Guard is lending a hand.

Guard troops are stationed at 13 medical facilities in the state, including Adventist Health White Memorial in Los Angeles, Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia and Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley.

Each team consists of about six to 10 medical corps members, led by a physician or a nurse. Some facilities, like El Centro Regional Medical Center in Imperial County, have two teams.

The Guard has dispatched medical help since the start of the pandemic, but the need is now greater, with hospitals reaching a breaking point from an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.