SUSSEX COUNTY, Del.- One by one each guard member was called up to be recognized by Beebe Healthcare President & CEO Dr. David Tam and the Beebe healthcare staff. Dr. Tam says they were on the frontlines doing everything that was asked of them.
"Food services, lift team where they help to lift patients in and out of bed, turn them and put them in wheelchairs, transport, housekeeping, and all the other functions that allowed nurses to work at the top of their license," Dr. Tam said.
Sergeant Joshua Bell enjoyed his time at Beebe and has applied to stay as part of the lift team in the hospital. He couldn’t believe the amount of people coming in during the surge.
"To see the capacity at which the hospital was running at for so long and just how busy the staff is and how understaffed and overwhelming it can be was very eye opening to see," Bell said.
Bayhealth saluted National Guard members on February 18 in its Kent and Sussex Campus hospitals. Over forty members spent time supporting them in many different departments and in clinical services.
Even though the majority of the guard members will be leaving, the pandemic is still here. Vice President of Quality & Medical Affairs Dr. John Fink says that even with numbers down, protection needs to be taken seriously by everyone.
"Encouraging people to keep their masks around and make sure they are wearing them when they can," Dr. Fink said. "Again, I always answer this question with vaccination. It’s the number one way that we can just develop that baseline level of defense so that whenever that next variant comes along that we are all as protected as we can be."
Although the pandemic isn't over by any means, the progress in the data is something to celebrate. As of Sunday, there are 81 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state with ten of them being critical and there are just over 110 cases on a seven day moving average.
