COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Hospitals in North Idaho are calling out for help — and need community members to answer.
North Idaho healthcare workers are engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic and this area is suffering the most in the state, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) said.
"It's a really concerning and frustrating time for everyone," Panhandle Health District spokesperson Katherine Hoyer said.
Hospitals are struggling. There is a severe shortage of staffing and available beds, leading Kootenai Health to activate crisis standards of care.
The hospital announced Wednesday the Department of Defense (DOD) is providing the hospital with 20 military medical personnel for at least the next five weeks to support their staff. Kootenai Health and the DOD held a press conference Wednesday, regarding their efforts as the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients continues to climb in the state of Idaho.
During the press conference, Kootenai Health Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Scoggins said Kootenai Health is caring for 115 COVID-19 patients as of Wednesday. Forty of those patients are in critical care and 20 require ventilators. He said on average Kootenai regularly only has 26 ICU beds.
Now, Hoyer said community volunteers are being requested in high volumes.
"We have open positions in call center, we also need help in data entry, contact tracing, different things like that," she added. "If we do have vaccine clinics, then we utilize some of those folks to help people fill out paperwork to direct people where to go. Some people who do have medical licenses and they are volunteers, we utilize them for some of the medical positions."
So where do you volunteer? You can register for the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) on VolunteerIdaho.com. From there, you choose 'find my MRC.' After choosing which district, you can apply via the 'register now' link. Next, you fill out general information, your credentials and licenses if you are already in or were in the healthcare field and background on your skills. For the MRC, there are no requirements. Anyone can register.
"We really don't turn away people, especially if they don't have a medical license because for every medical person, there are like five more non-medical people that we need to fulfill a job," she said.
Hospitals will place a request to the district, which then gets sent off to the Idaho Office of Emergency Management. From there, the MRC in each district of the state is contacted to help place volunteers.
DHW said although they provide funds and tools to the MRC, local health districts work with their own hospitals to arrange volunteer support. For people that want to volunteer, they have to go to the state website to register.