Hendrick welcomes arrival of nurses and respiratory techs from Department of Defense

This morning, 40 healthcare personnel arrived at Hendrick Medical Center as part of the Department of Defense COVID-19 response operation. These individuals will work alongside the Hendrick Health team caring for the community.

“We are grateful to the State of Texas and to the Department of Defense for designating additional staff to Abilene,” said Brad Holland, president and CEO for Hendrick Health. “As COVID-19 remains active in our local communities, high COVID hospitalization rates continue to be seen across our three hospitals. The military medical personnel will help alleviate some of the burden our caregivers have been facing since March.”

Even as the positivity rate decreases slightly, 30 to 40% of the hospital patient population is COVID-19 positive, with the Critical Care Units operating at 140-145% occupancy levels across Hendrick Health.

“We will continue to work closely with the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council to monitor regional COVID-19 rates, coordinate staffing requests through the limited pool of resources and discuss surge capacity capabilities,” said Holland.