Ohio National Guard to be deployed in Mansfield hospital

MANSFIELD — OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital will receive staffing assistance from the Ohio National Guard starting Thursday, hospital officials confirmed.

Vinson Yates, president of OhioHealth Mansfield and Shelby Hospitals, confirmed that the Mansfield hospital will receive personnel aid after Gov. Mike DeWine announced a statewide mobilization effort Wednesday afternoon.

“We are appreciative of Gov. DeWine’s efforts to deploy the National Guard across Ohio to assist hospitals in a variety of ways as we manage this current COVID-19 surge,” Yates said. “OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital will begin orienting members of the National Guard as soon as tomorrow afternoon.”

Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday the ONG is mobilizing an additional 1,250 guard members to assist in hospitals across the state. Maj. Gen. John C. Harris named Mansfield as one of the metropolitan areas set to receive assistance during a press conference.

“We have over 460 people currently deployed just in the Cleveland area,” Harris said. “In the north part of the state, the Toledo area, we have over 160 people there. We have people in hospitals here in Columbus, about 100 people.”

“And then we’ve got smaller numbers in the Mansfield area.”

Chris Adler, director of safety, security and emergency management for Avita Health System, said he was unsure as of Wednesday evening if the system would receive National Guard support.

“We’ve been in contact with the Ohio Hospital Association and they will make that determination,” Adler said in an email.

The ONG has been mobilized multiple times throughout the pandemic. Guard members have administered COVID-19 tests and vaccinations, helped inside hospitals and served at local food banks.

Harris said the ONG will continue to shift its resources in response to the needs around Ohio. The ONG coordinates daily with the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Hospital Association to determine where the state’s “hotspots” are and what kinds of personnel are needed.

“Not only do we change the numbers of resources at a specific hospital, but also the mix between medical – those clinical folks – and the non-medical people,” he said.

Guard members without medical training can support hospitals by providing “wraparound services” – transporting patients, cleaning and disinfecting facilities or helping with food services or administrative tasks.

“The goal here is to expand the hospitals’ capacity,” Harris said. “Most of the hospitals tell us their challenge is not shortage of beds, but shortage of staffing to staff those beds.”

DeWine, Harris and various public health officials stated that hospitals across the state are strained like never before as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

“Today we have more Ohioans with COVID in the hospital, in hospitals throughout the state, than we’ve had at any other time during this pandemic,” DeWine said.

Robert Wylie, chief medical operations officer for the Cleveland Clinic, stated that after adjusting for population size, Ohio has the highest rate of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the nation.

A Wednesday report from Becker’s Hospital Review lists Ohio has having the second-highest rate of COVID hospitalizations nationwide — second only to the District of Columbia. 

The governor said the high rate of hospitalizations is due largely to Ohio’s unvaccinated population. He stated that since June 1, there have been 35,962 Ohioans admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19, and 92.5 percent of them had not been vaccinated.

“The majority of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated,” Yates said. “We encourage everyone to help slow the spread, reduce your risk of hospitalization and help preserve hospital resources by getting the vaccine or booster, if you are eligible.”

DeWine and public health officials urged all Ohioans to consider ways they can fight the spread of COVID-19, including vaccination, booster shots, improving ventilation and wearing masks in indoor public spaces.

As of Wednesday, 58.34 percent of Ohioans ages five and older were fully-vaccinated.

Richard Lofgren, president and CEO of UC Health, said the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations is beginning to impact the quality of care in hospitals across the state.

“This not only affects the care of the people with COVID, but also affects people who don’t have COVID,” he said. “It squeezes out our ability to take care of patients with other serious, life-threatening problems such as heart attacks and strokes.”

Information about OhioHealth’s COVID-19 walk-in vaccination clinics can be found by clicking here. Information about Avita Health System’s COVID-19 clinics can be found here.