Medics from Hill Air Force Base deploy to NYC to help with COVID-19 battle
Maj. Katherine Trout, a medic with the 419th Fighter Wing, is interviewed by local news media today at the nearly empty Salt Lake City airport just prior to departing on a flight to the New York City area where she will assist with the city's COVID-19 response.
Maj. Katherine Trout (left) and Maj. Jimmy Jones, reservists in the 419th Medical Squadron, are part of a small group of Airmen who left from the Salt Lake City airport today for the New York City area to help with COVID-19 response.
HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Medical personnel from Hill Air Force Base have deployed to the New York City area to help in the fight against COVID-19.
The medical professionals — nurse practitioners and registered nurses who work full-time in the local community and serve part-time in the Air Force Reserves’ 419th Fighter Wing at Hill — flew out of Salt Lake City on Sunday afternoon, according to Kari Tilton, chief of public affairs for the fighter wing.
Tilton said she couldn’t release specific numbers of reservists being sent, but said it was “several.”
“Reservists from all over the U.S. are being called up,” Tilton said. “For us, right now, let’s say it’s a ‘handful.'”
The deployment was in response to a March 27 executive order signed by President Donald Trump. Tilton said she didn’t know if additional personnel would be sent in the future.
According to a news release from the 419th Fighter Wing, the medics were deployed “with just one day’s notice” to the COVID-19 response. It’s part of a larger mobilization — begun in the past 48 hours — of more than 120 doctors, nurses and respiratory technicians in Air Force Reserves units around the country.
New York City has been the hardest hit area in the country, and it has been described as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic here.
Maj. Jimmy Jones, chief nurse in the 419th Medical Squadron, is among those reservists being deployed. Jones works as a nurse practitioner at a surgical center in Pocatello, Idaho. Between his civilian and military training, Jones said he’s well-prepared to serve in whatever capacity he’s needed.
“I’m excited to help, but there’s always a little bit of trepidation when you go into the unknown, and there are a lot of unknowns in this situation,” Jones is quoted in a news release. “But I expect to be dealing with patients in a similar manner that I always have, and we’ll be following well-established protocols.”
Jones says he was called up once before, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.
Also traveling to New York City is Maj. Katherine Trout, who works as a registered nurse at an intensive care unit in Salt Lake City. In the news release, Trout said she was “not nervous at all” about going to a coronavirus hotspot.
“As medical professionals, we’re always exposed to possible infections,” Trout said. “I’ve been in the medical field for a long time, and deployed several times in the military. I’m definitely prepared.”
The 419th Medical Squadron is made up of more than 100 reserves airmen, according to the release. And more than 90 percent of those are traditional, part-time reservists with full-time careers in the civilian sector.