HR Director, Carmen Wagner, presenting leis to FEMA agency nurse. Photo courtesy Kona Community Hospital.

(BIVN) – Thirty-three critical care nurses and three respiratory therapists were welcomed to Kona Community Hospital by leadership and nursing managers on Monday morning. The incoming nurses, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, spent the day orienting. They were deployed to nursing units on Tuesday.

Kona Community Hospital says these clinicians will be helping to provide care for COVID patients admitted to all units in the hospital for the next 8 weeks.

“We’re so thankful to ProLink Staffing and Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH) for coordinating this FEMA-funded emergency staffing project to address critical staffing shortages at KCH,” hospital officials wrote in a news update.

Mayor Roth and ICU employees talk about COVID patient care. Photo courtesy Kona Community Hospital.

Hawaiʻi County Mayor Mitch Roth also visited the hospital on Tuesday. KCH wrote:

The mayor and his team toured the hospital and met with employees from Imaging Services, ICU, Med Surg acute units and the Emergency Department. Employees shared their concerns with the mayor, including the long-term stressors of caring for complicated COVID patients, worries over ongoing community spread and vaccine hesitancy within the community. We appreciate Mayor Roth and his team taking time to learn first-hand how our clinical staff are managing the pandemic at KCH.

Kona Community Hospital said that of its 13 total COVID patients, 4 are in the ICU and 9 are in the Med Surg acute care unit. Three (3) ventilators are in use for COVID patients.