The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $23 million to the State of Rhode Island to reimburse Rhode Island Hospital for the cost of additional labor to deal with the surge in patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $23,011,242 in Public Assistance grants will reimburse the non-profit academic medical center in Providence – affiliated with Brown University – for the cost of hiring temporary staff and paying existing staff overtime between March 2021 and July 2022.
One grant of $12,770,433 will pay for the cost of contracting for registered nurses (RN) and licensed practical nurses (LPN) for a total of 61,335 hours of work in surgical, behavioral health, intensive care, critical care, and respiratory care units as well as emergency rooms.
A second grant of $10,240,809 will reimburse Rhode Island Hospital for the cost of paying 2,851 employees for a total of 364,420 hours of overtime worked in similar units.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Rhode Island 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 $800 million in Public Assistance grants to Rhode Island to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.