National Guard Dispatched To New Jersey Veterans' Home Following 10 Coronavirus Deaths

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A team of 40 medics from the National Guard will be deployed to The Paramus Veterans Memorial Home to help with nursing duties after its twenty three residents tested positive and ten died.
The facility isn’t filled to its 336 resident capacity given the need for isolation rooms for those who tested positive.
The facility stopped accepting new admissions on March 23.

The National Guard is being deployed to a New Jersey veterans' home after it recorded at least 10 coronavirus deaths over the past two weeks.

At least twenty three residents at the Paramus Veterans Memorial Home tested positive for the coronavirus as of Thursday, with forty seven still awaiting their results, Kryn Westhoven, a spokesman for New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, told NBC News.

A team of 40 medics from the Army National Guard will assist in nursing duties.

"Families of our residents at the homes should know we're doing everything we possibly can to keep the residents safe," Westhoven said.

The facility is located in Bergen County, which is deemed the major contributor of coronavirus cases in New Jersey. The county represents 8,343 coronavirus cases out of total 51,027 in the state, with 345 deaths out of total 1,700 reported as of Thursday.

Notwithstanding the fact that the veterans home, one of the three such facilities run by the state, can accommodate up to 336 residents, it was closed to new admissions on March 23 to create sufficient isolation rooms for residents who had tested positive.

Aside from the residents, at least 17 out of 394 staff members in the facility were reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, with 20 others awaiting their results. Mark Piterski, Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Affairs for NJ Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, told ABC 7 the home tends to several WWII veterans aged between 93 and 103.

"40 combat medics from our New Jersey Army National Guard, and they are here to assist our certified nursing assistants, our nurses. They are not certified nurses. However, they are equivalent to EMTs," Piterski said. "They are combat medics. There are 40 of them here. There will be a little over 10 plus leadership on our three shifts and will augment our staff," Piterski said, adding they would remain there as long as their help is solicited.

Another veterans home in Menlo Park, where at least four residents have died, will also reportedly receive about 35 medics from the National Guard this week.