ST. LOUIS — Federal medical workers have finished their deployment at Christian Hospital in North St. Louis County. These heroes are being sent off with a big "thank you" from the staff they came to support.
Dozens of Navy doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists brought a breath of hope when they arrived in late January.
Christian Hospital's staff lined the hallways of the hospital entrance to give a heroes' farewell to the 44-person Federal Clinical Relief Team that came to help them navigate the recent Omicron surge.
Members of the team were honored during an awards ceremony before they left the facility.
Since early February, the team treated both COVID and general patients to help alleviate some of the stress hospital workers were feeling.
Christian had one of the busiest emergency rooms in the state and staffing issues were making it tough to care for patients.
Staff was exhausted and many were getting sick, plus North St. Louis County has been among the areas hit hardest during the pandemic.
The team was sent to Christian Hospital to help provide resources to an underserved community. Hospital officials say it was a job well done.
"The staff felt a great sense of relief because they added a lot of help that we needed at a time of high census that we had here at Christian Hospital," said Rick Stevens, Christian Hospital’s president. "The staff is very appreciative of the Navy coming in and providing the support that they did."
Lt. Ottis Brown is a member of the Federal Clinical Relief Team and spent the past month working at Christian Hospital.
"I must tell you. The first day when we came and it started to snow, I was trembling in my boots," Brown joked. "I'm actually from Jamaica, spent some time in Miami and now we're stationed in California. So, we're not used to the cold weather and so on. But, the people here at Christian have been so warm. They've been helpful. They've been welcoming. They really helped us acclimate to the environment and it was just awesome being here.”
The 30-day mission is officially complete.
Most of the members on the federal medical team are from California and Washington State, and now they’re headed back to their home bases.