Over 500 experienced health care professionals from out of state will be deployed to supplement local staff in 19 hospitals statewide in the coming weeks, with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
To support and bring in traveling health care workers, Hawaii will be receiving $46 million in federal funding for this purpose.
“With the delta variant causing a surge in cases across the nation, working together as a group improved our opportunities to obtain the funding Hawaii needs,” said Luke Meyers, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, according to a news release on Gov. David Ige's website. “This approach also ensures smaller, rural hospitals, especially those on the neighbor islands, can receive the support they need and are not overlooked to ensure equitable health care access for all Hawaii residents.”
The health care professionals are set to work in Hawaii for eight weeks each. The first group, 46 clinicians, have arrived and were deployed to Hilo Medical Center and Kona Hospital on Hawaii Island to accommodate the increased need as a result of the surge in COVID-19 cases, according to the news release. Other hospitals that will be reinforced with specialized personnel include the Hawaii State Hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center and Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, among others.
The remaining groups are expected to arrive and be deployed over the next three weeks. This is the second time during the COVID-19 pandemic that the state has received surge staff support.
The majority of the positions are telemetry nurses (184), critical care nurses (150) and medical-surgical nurses (94). Along with them are 71 emergency department nurses, 37 respiratory therapists and other health care professionals, the governor's office said.