Maine Medical Center (MMC) said a grateful goodbye Dec. 23 to 15 medical professionals from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The State of Maine and FEMA requested the HHS National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) team to help MMC manage the unprecedented surge in patient volume due to COVID-19.

The team included physicians, advanced healthcare practitioners, nurses, paramedics, and support specialists all working in direct patient care at MMC since Dec. 12. Their support allowed MMC to open a non-COVID acute care unit with six additional patient beds. Now that the team is leaving, MMC will close the unit until January, when those beds will be staffed by travelers.

“We want to thank this team of dedicated medical professionals for everything they have done to help us create additional inpatient capacity during a very challenging time for our care team,” said MMC President Jeff Sanders.

NDMS, which is a part of HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), helps communities respond to and recover from public health emergencies and disasters. Since January 2020, NDMS has conducted 740 missions in 40 states and U.S. territories, deploying more than 6,600 medical, logistical and command and control personnel to help states, territories and jurisdictions respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My team’s deployment to MMC has been a wonderful experience for everyone involved,” said Tim Tackett, the NDMS team leader at MMC. “We had the opportunity to work with and support a wonderful group of health care heroes as they continue to fight COVID-19 surges in the region. It was our honor to give back to them and the citizens of Maine.”

MMC urges everyone to do their part to help our care team and our community by getting vaccinated if they are not already, and if eligible, to get a booster. Recent data reported by the CDC suggests fully vaccinated people are far better protected against the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus after receiving a booster shot. Masking when indoors, avoiding crowds and getting tested before traveling or visiting with friends and family are also strategies that can help control spread of the virus.