Federal Emergency Medical Team Arrives At Atrium Health Pineville

CHARLOTTE, NC –  Federal medical emergency services are in Charlotte to help  with the surge of hospitalizations due to Covid.

The U S Department of Health and Human Services deployed a 16 person medical team to Atrium Health Pineville.

“It’s hard to leave home. But it’s very rewarding work,” said Marc Scherschel.

He is leading the National Disaster Medical system team out of Colorado.

The group of doctors and nurses arrived at Atrium Pineville on Tuesday.

“I also came with four other support staff administrative support. Logistics support. And safety officers to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves as we take care of others,” said Scherschel.

Hospital staff says it was an overwhelmingly positive response by the Atrium employees.

“Now in our third year of the pandemic. This couldn’t come at a more welcome time,” said Dr. Sheela Myers, the Atrium Pineville Chief Medical Officer.

She says they’re reaching their highest capacity in the last three years.

“Throughout each surge in this pandemic, we’ve continued to be challenged by high capacity here at Pineville and really across the system,” said Dr. Myers.

Dr. Myers says staff is being stretched thin. They’re utilizing people in non-emergency departments to help treat the influx of patients. They’re also currently hiring and using cash incentives to recruit and retain help.

“So we’ll continue to pull all the levers that we have throughout the course of this pandemic to keep the team going and serve this community,” said Dr. Myers.

The federal help will be at Atrium Pineville until February 13th.