National Guard Members In NH Helping Hospitals Battle Surge In COVID Patients
DOVER, N.H. (CBS) -- By day, Cierra Dion is a preschool teacher.
But with the National Guard, she's now assembling COVID-testing kits at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H. She wouldn't have it any other way.
"I just feel honored to come here and be part of this. I know that there's a lot of hospitals that are struggling," said Dion.
Struggling would be an understatement.
12 members of the National Guard have now been deployed to the hospital helping with clerical work, the cafeteria and food services areas, and drive-up testing, where hospital employees had been stepping in to fill the need.
"It allows some of the individuals volunteering outside their skill set to go back to doing what they do best, and these guardsmen are filling those gaps," said Martha Wassell, the hospital's Director of Infection Prevention.
Benjamin Wiggins works by day building weapons for law enforcement and the military. In the Air Force, he was a chef, which helps him fit in at the hospital's kitchen.
"I knew they were stressed to a certain extent. But as soon as we arrived, it was a huge, warm welcoming, and saying just how grateful they were for us," said Wiggins.
The hospital is seeing a surge in COVID patients, according to Ben Bradley, the hospital's Director of Government Relations and Public Policy.
"The staffing for that has increased," said Bradley, who put in the urgent request for the National Guard when N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu called them up.
It's what the hospital, like so many, are up against. ICU beds there are at capacity with COVID patients and others still needing care.
"It's disconcerting that it's come to that," said Wassell.
Cierra Dion admits she's now a little out of her comfort zone. "It's something different and new. I like it," she said as she fills a critical role to help the hospital do the same.
The National Guard will remain at the hospital through at least the end of the year.