WILMINGTON, Del. – Airmen and Soldiers from the Delaware National Guard helped set up a new 38-bed field hospital – the first alternative acute care site in Delaware – to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Should area hospitals reach capacity the site, set up with the medical staff from Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children, Christiana Care, and St. Francis Healthcare, at the DuPont hospital, will be used to treat adults in stable condition who do not have the coronavirus.
The team set up the temporary care site in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Delaware Emergency Management Agency.
“It’s very similar to a military field,” said Lt. Col. Rachel Stephens, 142nd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron flight nurse. “Only you guys have walls, and we have a tent.”
“Patients that just need some more time in the hospital, and don’t require a lot of extra care” can be treated, said Dr. Christopher Raab, medical director of the alternate care site. “Hopefully they’re just patients who will be here for a little bit, and then will be able to go onto a skill nursing facility or home.”
Members of the Delaware National Guard are among more than 28,000 National Guard members helping with coronavirus response efforts nationwide.