NEW YORK--Forty-two days into the COVID-19 pandemic response
mission, the New York National Guard had 3,600 troops performing missions
ranging from answering public inquiry hotlines to assisting New York City in
retrieving the remains of those who have died at home.
Along with 2,993 National Guard Soldiers and 452 Airmen,
members of the New York Naval Militia and the New York Guard, the state defense
force, are also serving.
The emotionally and physically challenging mission of
assisting the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City in the
dignified recovery of human remains is the toughest missions facing the
Soldiers and Airmen, according to Army Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, the adjutant
general of New York.
There are 255 Soldiers and Airmen handling this mission.
The medical examiner's office is responsible for the
dignified recovery of people who die outside of a hospital. The staff was
overwhelmed at the spike in COVID-19-related deaths in the city of 8.5 million
people, so city officials turned to the New York National Guard for help.
Now New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are on duty
around the clock helping the Medical Examiner’s office.
"Your work makes a difference for families at a very
critical time of need when their loss is most personal," Shields told
members of the detail on April 2.
The mission started with specially trained Airmen of the
107th Attack Wing’s Fatality Search and Recovery Team. As the demands of the
mission grew, additional troops were assigned.
Now Soldiers from the 101st Signal Battalion, the 152nd
Brigade Engineer Battalion and the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, are also
handling this duty.
New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are supporting
ten drive through COVID-19 test sites run by the state Department of Health.
Since the first site opened outside New Rochelle in Westchester County on March
15, 116,126 people have been tested at them.
A major mission has been the packaging and delivery of
meals.
When the mission started, the goal was to provide meals to
New Rochelle families whose kids would be missing school lunches because of
closed schools. Since then the meal has expanded into a major feeding operation
in New York City.
Soldiers and Airmen in New York City have distributed
1,398,947 meals since the start of the mission. On April 17, for example,
111,792 meals were provided in New York City.
The mission has grown so much that additional Soldiers deployed
from western New York to help.
On April 14, 1st Lt. Jessica Reed, a platoon leader in the
2nd Squadron, `101st Cavalry led 25 Soldiers from Niagara Falls to New York
City to assist in the food distribution mission in the Bronx. The Soldiers had
been preparing for the mission since March, Reed said.
“Word got out that this was a potential thing,” said 1st Lt.
Jessica Reed, a member of the squadron’s Bravo Troop. “We had our guys come in
to armories to fill out paperwork and pack the essential things we knew they
might need.”
The food distribution mission in Westchester County has
provided 68,333 meals, while Soldiers in Albany County distributed 1,406 meals
to people in quarantine.
Soldiers and Airmen are conducting warehouse operations at
six locations across New York. They have been moving medical supplies ranging
from ventilators to masks, and supplies to keep troops in the field across the
state.
It’s not exciting work, but it is important, said Staff Sgt.
Stephanie Kimball.
“I feel proud that we can do something in a time of need,”
Kimball said. “We want to make sure that all our health care professionals have
the personal protection equipment needed to do their jobs and keep themselves
safe.”
Another necessary, but not glamorous product being
distributed by the New York National Guard is hand sanitizer being packaged by
the New York State Department of Corrections and Custodial Services.
Troops have distributed 35,432 gallons of hand sanitizer in
the Hudson Valley since the mission began.
In Albany Soldiers and Airmen have been putting together
COVID-19 testing kits to support the New York State Department of Health.
On April 17, for example, the Soldiers produced 8,300 kits
for a total of 191,000 since the mission began.
“The Guard is helping us out with trying to get as many kits
out as we can,” said Alexis Tripodo, a state employee of the Division of
Homeland Security and Emergency Services. ”They are helping out tremendously
with the speed of the completed kits and making sure it’s accurate, making sure
every bag is packed correctly.”
“The more people we have, the faster we can get these to the
sites and the more people we can test,” Tripodo said.
In New York City the New York National Guard continues to
support the alternative care facility for COVID-19 patients established at the
Jacob Javits Convention Center.
There are 2,100 military medical staff working at Javits and
in New York City hospitals. U.S. Army Soldiers of the 44th Medical Brigade are
providing staffing at the Javits New York Medical Station. Additional medical
staff come from the U.S. Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Air Force and the
Civilian Medical Reserve Corps. A total of 2,708 people are working at the
alternative care facility.
More than 950 patients have received care at the Javits New
York Medical Station.
New York National Guard members continue to manage the
Javits site as the unified command post for the multi-agency response and are
providing other logistical, and administrative help.
On Easter, as an example of that support , new York Air
National Guard Chaplain Lt. Col.) Jacob Marvel, 109th Airlift Wing, made sure
anybody who wanted to receive communion that day had the chance.
While ensuring that social distancing protocols were
followed, Marvel conducted an abridged Mass for 140 visitors to his temporary
chapel at the convention center.
“My goal was to provide spiritual support for people who
needed it or wanted it,” Marvel explained. “We are in the midst of Holy Days
for several religions and our spirituality is an important part of how we stay
balanced in this crisis.”
New York National Guard Soldiers are supporting an alternative
care facility established at the state’s South Beach Psychiatric Center on
Staten Island, as well as working at the Javits location.
A unique medical mission has placed pararescue Airmen of the
106th Rescue Wing at a New York City hospital to assist medical technicians
there as they care for patients on ventilators.
New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen have been
assisting the New York State Department of Health in answering calls to its
Cornoavirus Hotline since the mission began. Working at a call center in
Rotterdam, N.Y., and eventually taking over night and weekend duty, the
National Guard members have fielded 183,169 calls since March 11.
That mission is expected to phase out on April 20 and the
Soldiers and Airmen will move on to other duties.
A call center operation on behalf of New York City will
continue. Guardsmen working there have handled over 4,000 calls.
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