Photo By Maj. Patrick Cordova | New York Army National Guard Lt. Col. Peter Morrissey, right, who normally commands a...... read more read more
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NEW YORK--The New York Army National Guard is full of Citizen Soldiers who leverage civilian job skills in performing military missions and the statewide pandemic response for COVID-19 is no different in bringing those civilian skills to the fight.
New York Army National Guard Lt. Col. Peter Morrissey took command of a training battalion at the National Guard training site at Camp Smith on March 16, 2020. His military job would normally mean scheduling and staffing numerous professional development courses for Soldiers.
But a week later, on March 23, was mobilized and ordered to New York City and tasked with supervising the access control at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, a 1.2 million square foot building with 2,500 people coming and going in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s not the job the Army trained him to do, Morrissey said. But for Morrissey, a New York State Trooper in his civilian career, “leadership is leadership,” and only the situation changes, he added.
For the next month Morrissey served as the Chief of Physical Security, drawing on his law enforcement skills and interagency support for the alternate care medical station the Army Corps of Engineers erected inside the Javits Center.
“A large convention center like this pretty much had all the plans we needed,” Morrissey said, “everything from access badges to where security posts should be, so it was just a matter of hooking up with the personnel here.”
The Javits Center already has a physical security plan in place for trade shows or conventions Morrissey said. He just needed to coordinate efforts with Kenneth Dixon, Vice President of Security and Safety Solutions for the Javits Center. But as they soon discovered, there was a lot of uncharted territory to cover.
“There is no comparison to our traditional business, which focused on the safety and security of our staff, contractors, exhibitors and visitors working or attending a trade show or convention,” Dixon said. “The medical station presented unique risks such as infection control and providing security in a COVID environment.”
Both Morrissey and Dixon agreed that there had been a positive sense of unity and comradery across the board at Javits when it came to security and access control.
There had been ongoing coordination among the various agencies at this site, including the New York Police Department, the state Department of Environment Conservation, New York State Police, the New York Army National Guard, and even Masters of Arms from the Navy supporting the military staff and arrival of the Hospital Ship USNS Comfort.
Everyone cooperated and were flexible to ensure that there was appropriate, 24-hour security, Dixon said.
“The Javits is a state-owned facility on city-owned property,” Morrissey said “So, a lot of it had to do with what NYPD would handle, what State Police would handle, and what an access control force provided by the New York Military Forces would handle.”
“That and a lot of bureaucracy as far as that and who is responsible for what,” Morrissey said.
Unlike routine events at Javits, the medical station would see thousands of medical staff arriving each day for shift work, and proper access control was necessary to screen them all to prevent the coronavirus from entering and spreading in the building.
“We knew we needed to develop a robust and comprehensive security pan to protect the staff, patients, equipment and venue,” Dixon said. “This was no easy task as the venue is 1.2 million square feet with 225 perimeter doors in midtown Manhattan.”
There were only two entry points into the Javits Medical Station, now reduced to one point of entry for better control. Other perimeter doors are monitored by National Guardsman to ensure no breaches to the security of the building.
In addition to the physical security, there were safety and health precautions that are followed when any individual accessed the convention center.
Each person that comes through the door is asked, “are you COVID-19 positive or have you touched someone who is COVID-19 positive without the proper PPE in the past 14 days?” and “do you feel ill today or do you have a sudden onset cough?”
Additionally, everyone entering has their temperature taken prior to gaining access.
The majority of New York City residents have been supportive and thankful to see the military in uniform. Civilians have stopped to thank service men and women on the streets, Dixon said.
Overall, the support and unity seen during this time has been tremendous, Morrissey said.
The military has come together with law enforcement and civilian agencies to ensure the safety of those 1,095 patients treated in the Javits Center and those working in the Javits Center.
Turning the convention center into a medical station was seamless and effective, Morrissey said.
The Javits Center was able to support all the arriving agencies by providing the space, tables, phones, power strips, and other traditional working space needs.
He recommends using the Incident Command Structure, as most of the work was done within individual working groups to get the ball rolling.
“Nowhere in the world, never has it been done before, where a convention center got set up to be a 3,000-hospital bed facility,” Morrissey said. “We were the first ones to do it.”
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2020 15:17 |
| Story ID: | 370106 |
| Location: | NEW YORK, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 332 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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