VA Butler Health Care staff deploying to other facilities
Nurses dedicated to caring for military veterans at VA Butler Healthcare are answering the call to help veterans in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey where there is a high incidence of COVID-19.
The latest wave of a dozen nurses left Butler Friday for a 14-day deployment at State Veteran Homes and VA hospitals in the Philadelphia area and New Jersey.
A total of 38 staff members have already been deployed.
As a member of VA Butler’s voluntary Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS), this marks the fourth deployment for registered nurse Marcie Baker of Ford City.
“I’ve been in DEMPS since 2006 and I went to Waco, Texas, for Hurricane Katrina,” Baker said. “When you’re with a group of people who are amazing to work with it’s an amazing feeling. It makes you warm inside knowing you’re working with people who have true compassion. You become friends with these people for a life time. These are permanent connections.”
Most of those deployments were in response to natural disasters such a Hurricane Katrina, but this turn is different because of the highly contagious nature of the disease, she said.
“It’s scary to be going into the situation, but I’m ready to help,” Baker said. “We have the appropriate equipment and the VA will make sure we’re taken care of so I have no worries. I’m ready to go down there take care of the veterans.
This is an excerpt from a larger article that will appear in Sunday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.
