Washington National Guard support Team Med Surge

Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Overhead view of the Team Med Surge Isolation facility that can be set up in rural and smaller town if medical facilities are over ran with cases. (U.S. National Guard photo by Joseph Siemandel)  

LACEY, WA, UNITED STATES

07.21.2020

Story by Joseph Siemandel  

Joint Force Headquarters - Washington National Guard

With the number of positive COVID-19 cases still rising, hospitals – especially those in smaller, rural areas – run the risk of running out of bed space, reducing a community’s ability to keep those who are sick separated from the general community.

“Our goal is to help isolate people who are sick or may have been exposed to the disease,” said Lt. Col. Bruce Simpson, operations chief for the Guard as part of Team Med Surge. “Setting up a facility, this is a proof of concept that we can set up a surge capacity within 48 hours to provide additional space to those areas that need it.”

Created at the end of March, Team Med Surge, a mix of personnel from the Washington National Guard and the departments of Health, Ecology and Transportation, developed a 30-40 bed isolation facility to help support local health jurisdictions respond to a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.

The concept for the medical surge facilities began at the beginning of the pandemic while the team supported multiple other missions including moving hospital beds and ventilation systems. In July, the team finally had the chance to test its ability to set up the isolation facility at the Olympia Armory and St. Martin’s College in Lacey.

“The team medical surge was in a crawl, walk, run process since this is a new concept for the Department of Health,” said Simpson. “The team started with the crawl phase setting up at the Olympia Armory, then set up at St. Martin’s to show the public the proof of concept. At the end of July the team will set up the system in Ellensburg at the fairgrounds.”

For Matt Simons, the branch director for the medical surge team who also works for the division of medical response at the Department of Health, the concept is important, but so is the approach.

“At St. Martin’s we wanted to showcase the capability to multiple county health officials,” Simons said. “But when we go to Ellensburg, we will be treating it like a real deployment from getting a call from the county, load up and report all movements, set up and be ready to support.”

The concept for the isolation facility seems very simple. Members of Team Med Surge arrive, look at the location and in just over two hours, set up an empty area into a medical facility ready for use.

It’s much more complicated than it sounds.

“We have worked with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers looking at everything from HVAC to the flow of the building, to identify the best spaces for staff,” said Simons. “Gyms or armories are a great spot. They have showers and a big drill space. In small towns, the high schools would work.”

While it’s a joint venture, Simons doesn’t under play the importance of the Guard in Team Med Surge’s role during the COVID-19 response.

“The National Guard has been critical for this team. They have been instrumental in the staffing and planning for this team, more than half the team is National Guard,” said Simons. “They have been instrumental in the other mission of meeting with the local areas, getting us around quickly and helping with those meeting. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

• Date Taken: 07.21.2020
• Date Posted: 07.21.2020 18:37
• Story ID: 374319
• Location: LACEY, WA, US