The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $5 million to the State of New Hampshire to reimburse Memorial Hospital for the costs of contracting for temporary staff to handle the surge in patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $5,043,182 in FEMA Public Assistance grants will reimburse the 25-bed critical access hospital in North Conway – part of the MaineHealth network – for contracting for additional physicians, registered nurses, respiratory therapists and other specialists between October 2021 and May 2023.
Those personnel worked a total of 41,894 hours in the emergency department, intensive care unit, cardiopulmonary unit, family birthing center, radiology unit, surgery services, and anesthesiology departments.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Memorial Hospital with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Reimbursing state, county, and municipal governments – as well as eligible non-profits and tribal entities – for the costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of our nation’s ongoing recovery.”
FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.
So far, FEMA has provided more than $317 million in Public Assistance grants to New Hampshire to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.