KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee National Guard started supporting ten additional medical centers throughout the state as they continue to help on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they are supporting 32 Tennessee hospitals in total.
Lieutenant Colonel Keith Evans is the Deputy Commander for Clinical Services, and he said that what is happening at hospitals is taking a heavy emotional toll. He also said beds are in unusual places at hospitals across the state.
"We'll see people in what we call 'hallway beds' and 'makeshift ICUs' to be able to care for these patients," said Col. Evans.
Evans is also a registered nurse and says what's going on in the hospitals is something he and many troopers have never seen before.
"It is something that's uncharted and something that we had never been exposed to," he said. "There was never a game plan that was built on this type of scenario."
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has worked in the University of Tennessee Medical Center and in Johnson City Medical Center. There, he said they were swamped with patients and said that the hospitals were understaffed, compared to the number of people needing treatment.
Not all troopers who arrive at medical facilities are nurses, but he said that they are all trying to help out in any way they can. Some are making phone calls or moving patients to other facilities. Many of the ones trained in caring for people are on medical duties.
"We had a couple of clinicians working in the emergency department at UT. We've got some that they're starting IVs on; they're providing them with medications," said Evans.
In most cases, troopers only stay at hospitals for two weeks at a time. However, since many COVID-19 patients spend weeks in a hospital fighting for their lives, Evans says troops could stay longer. The longest he said they have stayed at a medical facility is a month.