The University of Missouri is helping to lead a statewide effort to retrain and deploy retired nurses and other healthcare providers to alternative-care sites (ACSs) for recovering COVID-19 patients. The coordinated response ensures that staff would be immediately available to assist whenever the need may arise.
A news release says the state has designated a site in Florissant and, if needed, another possible site in the St. Louis area, and Kansas City or Springfield to handle recovering COVID-19 patients and those with chronic conditions such as cardiac and pulmonary problems and diabetes.
These sites ensure more hospital beds are available for patients who need higher levels of medical intervention and care.
Staffing these alternative-care sites was an urgent challenge.
About 800 retired nurses and other healthcare professionals, with and without active licenses, immediately answered the statewide call to volunteer. The varied group – from those long gone from nursing to those who had recently left the field – all required some level of vetting and were provided retraining to prepare them to care for patients at these sites.