As COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Yuma County this past summer and fall, officials at Yuma Regional Medical Center noticed a need for outside help.
"We were the top transferring facility of patients out to higher facilities," Deb Aders, Chief Nursing Officer at YRMC, told KAWC. "We had ICU beds. We didn’t have ICU staff.”
Help has arrived with 40 nurses from the Army Reserves.
They arrived Jan. 7and are working in the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Room.
Aders said YRMC is ready to assist with vaccine distribution, which is controlled locally by the Yuma County Health Department. Vaccine distribution has been slow around the country.
Col. Martha Roellig from the Army Reserve Team said the public can continue to do its part while we await our turn for the vaccine.
“No close gatherings," Roellig said. "That’s what COVID loves. That’s where it’s going to jump from person to person. So as painful as it is, keep doing Zoom, keep doing the online family get togethers.”
The Army nurses will be in Yuma through at least early February but may be extended due to local COVID numbers.