Department Of Defense And NMMC Partner To Treat COVID-19 Patients

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A military medical team is helping the North Mississippi Medical Center with its Covid 19 response.

A twenty-three-person medical response team from the US Army, made up of physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists, is working alongside doctors and nurses at NMMC treating Covid patients.

“It was much better to integrate them into our teams, so you have a department of Defense nurse working with one of our own hospitalists, critical care nurse, RTs, and other critical care nurses on our team,” said NMMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeremy Blanchard.

The hospital requested assistance from the state department of health. Governor Tate Reeves then asked the Department of Defense to send a team to the hospital.

An Army spokesman says the deployment of the medical team has gone well.

“The team here has presented a lot of southern hospitality and helped us do an integrated approach to get integrated into this healthcare team and the hope is we can make that impact on the patient care and make that difference,” said Sergeant First Class Andrew Stewart.

Dr. Blanchard says the reinforcements are especially welcomed, during a staffing shortage that is impacting healthcare facilities nationwide.

“It doesn’t alleviate it, but it does support it and we’re appreciative of that,” Dr. Blanchard said.

A typical timeline for a military medical team’s deployment to a hospital is thirty days, but that can be extended if needed.

This is the first time Department of Defense medical personnel have deployed to support Mississippi during the COVID-19 pandemic