By: Follow South Jersey Staff
NORTHFIELD, N.J. – A 10-member New Jersey National Guard strike team is being deployed to Atlantic County’s Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center here. The team will assist with COVID-19 response efforts and augment staff that are short-handed due to the surge of the Omicron variant throughout the nation.
This is an extension of Joint Task Force COVID Guardian, which has provided coordinated assistance to numerous long-term care facilities since the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meadowview is one of several long-term care facilities in the state to receive assistance from the National Guard. The strike team will be available for seven days and possibly longer if needed.
“Our healthcare workers have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic,” County Executive Dennis Levinson said in a press release from the county. “Exposures and outbreaks are currently impacting our staff and residents so we welcome the support of the National Guard at this time.”
Approximately 150 Soldiers and Airmen of the New Jersey National Guard are preparing to support staffing requirements of more than a dozen long-term care facilities around the state. Guard members will assist regular staff with a variety of tasks, including administrative and logistical support.
“Throughout this pandemic, protecting our most vulnerable residents has been paramount,” NJ Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said in a press release from the state. “As we have seen in the community, COVID-19 cases and outbreaks have been rising for several weeks in our long-term care facilities. We continue to work closely with long-term care facilities throughout the state to ensure that they have the staff they need.”
Strike team members, who will begin Monday, January 10, may help assist residents with daily hygiene activities, getting out of bed, dressing, walking and feeding. They will also be able to “buddy up” with Meadowview staff to provide additional assistance.
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