REGION 1 – FEMA has awarded an additional $3.4 million in Public Assistance Program funding for the State of Rhode Island’s COVID-19 response. The assistance was made available under a major disaster declaration issued March 30, 2020. The agency has provided more than $460.8 million for Rhode Island’s COVID-19 response, as of April 22, 2021
Recently, the Rhode Island Executive Military Staff was awarded a $3,490,947 PA Program grant for the cost of deploying active-duty Rhode Island National Guard (RING) troops during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded at 100%, the grant covers the cost of the mission assignment from March 14 to April 14, 2020. The major disaster declaration started on Jan. 20, 2020 and is continuing.
“The RING’s work during the response and recovery from the pandemic continues to be a vital role against COVID-19,” said Acting Regional Administrator and Federal Coordinating Officer Paul Ford, who oversees FEMA’s operations in New England. “We continue to work alongside the State and RING in our joint effort to combat this virus.”
Specifically, this grant was approved for RING troops who served on teams at various sites statewide performing pandemic-associated duties. They included assembling components for testing kits; distributing test kits; packing personal protective equipment; training staff how to use PPE correctly; staffing call centers; scheduling tests; providing Spanish public communications in the Central Falls and Pawtucket areas; directing traffic at testing sites; collecting patients’ test samples; notifying patients about test results; and helping create and operate alternate hospital sites.
More information about the PA Program is at Assistance for Governments and Private Non-Profits After a Disaster.
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FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters