© 2024 90.7 WMFE. All Rights Reserved.
90.7 Orlando • 89.5 Ocala
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Gov. Ron DeSantis Says Thousands of Medical Personnel Deployed to Florida Hospitals to Help with COVID-19 Response

Photo: Vladimir Fedotov
Photo: Vladimir Fedotov

Gov. Ron DeSantis said it’s not a lack of hospital beds that could pose a problem as coronavirus cases continue to rise in Florida. It’s a shortage of medical personnel. 

DeSantis said he’s already deployed one thousand additional medical staffers - especially nurses - to hospitals throughout the state, including hard-hit South Florida.

“So we’ve already dedicated a hundred personnel that the state had had on contract basis to Jackson here in Miami-Dade. We’ve put a hundred on the way into the Tampa Bay area.”

[audio wav="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/13012_NURSES_DANIELLE.wav"][/audio]

DeSantis said he plans on mobilizing another two thousand healthcare workers who will also be assigned to hospitals and long-term care facilities. 

He said he’s also applied for help from the federal government in the form of disaster relief teams. 

“We also have a request pending with the federal government with HHS for some of their teams to be able to come down and assist the effort.”

[audio wav="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/13013_NURSES_DANIELLE-1.wav"][/audio]

DeSantis said Floridians should continue to seek medical care for emergencies like heart attacks and strokes.

According to the Agency for Health Care Administration, the state had more than 13,700 hospital beds available as of Monday night.

If you'd like to listen to this story, click on the clips above.

Danielle Prieur is WMFE's education reporter.