Army National Guard serving on the frontlines in Yuma

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) is continuing to see many COVID-19 patients occupying beds throughout three separate coronavirus units.

The nursing staff is now getting assistance from Army National Guard members.

The service-members are registered nurses that have many months of experience working to treat COVID-19 patients, all over the Country.

YRMC requested more help after seeing a high volume of patients and transfers sent out of the hospital.

Local, state, and federal officials determined that Yuma Regional was in dire need of assistance.

A total of 40 U.S. Army Reserve service members and additional support staff have made their way to the hospital. It's a big relief for the frontlines in Yuma.

Deb Aders is the chief nursing officer for YRMC.

“It really helps so that the nurses can actually be with the patients more be in the rooms more there, even though we're doing team nursing, they can each get back to a smaller team of patients, so they can better manage their care and help make sure that things are done that needs to get done. So it was a big relief for them not to have six or seven or whatever patients, even though they have a team to go back down to the four to five, which is what they should have," she explained.

The goal is to keep the team here for at least 30 days as the hospital expects another influx of patients throughout the rest of this week, based on current positive cases in our area.