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Thousands Of EMT's Can Now Work In LA Nursing Homes Hit By Coronavirus
More than 50 ambulances took patients from the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to other facilities on April 8, 2020. (Screenshot of video from Riverside University Health System)
It seems absurd: thousands of health care workers are without jobs in the middle of a pandemic. But a new rule from L.A. County health officials aims to put some of them back to work, filling in the staffing gaps created by COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing homes.
Nursing homes have become epicenters of coronavirus outbreaks in Southern California. And it’s not just residents getting sick — thousands of health care workers and first responders have contracted the disease.
The new rule change by L.A. County health officials allows many furloughed and out-of-work paramedics and EMT's to perform procedures they normally wouldn’t be able to under their scope of practice, with the goal of getting them into hard-hit nursing homes.
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MORE ON THE CORONAVIRUS AND NURSING HOMES
- OC Nursing Homes Are Latest Coronavirus Hot Spot
- COVID-Plagued California Nursing Homes Often Had Problems In Past
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