Dozens of medical military personnel who’ve been helping out at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester over the last month headed home on Thursday.
The 40 or so members of the U.S. Air Force, who were part of these two medical teams, walked between applauding lines of staffers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, thanking them for their service, as they left the building.
Those teams were deployed over the last several weeks to help provide additional staffing needed at Strong, partly due to the pandemic.
A big thank you from all of us to @usairforce as they begin to head home after 30 days assisting our healthcare workers. 👏 pic.twitter.com/iPO2i5yocT
— UR Medicine (@UR_Med) March 17, 2022
Major Kirsten Pyle is a nurse, who was deployed from Keesler Air Force base in Mississippi. She usually works in an outpatient setting, and she was glad for the change of pace working inside Strong.
“We were with a mix of patients, so we just partnered with the team here,” Pyle said. “And I was a nurse on that floor doing hands-on nursing care at the bedside. So it was great to be back at the bedside.”
Kathy Parrinello is Strong’s chief operating officer. She said this additional help was really needed and not just because of the omicron surge.
“[COVID-19] didn’t stop persons having stroke and heart attacks and injuries and illnesses and needing cancer treatment,” Parrinello said. “And as a large hospital, we had plenty of that kind of care that still needed to be provided, on top of, at one point, well over 200 patients in the hospital with COVID.”
The military teams who worked at Strong over the last month primarily supported neurology and neurosurgery units as well as alternative level of care units.
Parrinello said that Strong will continue to recruit more staffers to meet patient needs.
“I think this will be the case across the country for the next, maybe four to six months, as everybody works to recruit, works to retain, uses temporary help as needed,” Parrinello said. “And just continues because the there’s been a lot of deferred patient care. So a lot of people seeking care for conditions that they put on hold.”
