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State hospital authorizes up to $1.2 million to pay National Guard to care for patients

The Oregon State Hospital on Friday, May 28, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

The critically short-staffed Oregon State Hospital will spend up to $1.2 million for 30 members of the National Guard to serve meals and care for patients at its Salem campus this summer.

A contract between the hospital and the Oregon Military Department, provided in response to a request from Salem Reporter, shows the hospital is spending about $17,800 per day for members of the guard to perform tasks typically assigned to entry-level employees without medical certification.

Those costs include wages for the guard members as well as meal costs and hotel payments for those who live outside of the Salem area.

Hospital leaders requested the guard’s assistance in late May as the number of employees on leave because of childcare responsibilities or other Covid-related causes soared. It was the first such request in the hospital’s history.

The state hospital cares for about 500 Oregonians with severe mental illnesses 24 hours per day and must maintain minimum staffing levels. That’s led to an increase in mandated overtime, when employees are required to work extra shifts.

The hospital has been short of nurses and other employees in large part because of the pandemic. Workers have generally taken leave because they don’t have childcare or need to care for relatives, Gipson-King said.

On June 21, the hospital had 20% of nursing staff out on Covid-related leave, hospital spokeswoman Rebeka Gipson-King said, with some taking leave part-time and some full-time. That’s down from about 33% out on leave in May when hospital leaders initially requested guard help.

Guard members were assigned to the hospital for training on June 7. Gipson-King said they’re expected to begin their duties working with patients on June 24.

The hospital will cover the cost of the guard deployment out of its general fund, Gipson-King said. The Salem hospital’s operating budget for the 2019-21 biennium was $505 million.

The guard members’ assignment is scheduled to end July 31, but the contract lasts through August 13. That’s to allow the guard’s aid to be extended if needed without drawing up a new contract, said Maj. Stephen Bomar, spokesman for the Oregon Military Department.

Related coverage

Oregon State Hospital advisory board said it was left out of the loop on staffing crisis

With 30 National Guard members, help is on the way for state hospital’s staffing crisis

With thin staff and others working double shifts, state hospital calls for National Guard help

State hospital shifts managers to nursing work to get through holiday weekend

Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.

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