DES MOINES – The Iowa National Guard is providing facilities and personnel to support six Regional Medical Coordination Centers across the state as part of an Iowa Department of Public Health and Iowa Health Care Coalition initiative to pool resources and aid in the sharing of critical information across multiple agencies to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Soldiers and Airmen will help staff the RMCCs, based at Iowa National Guard facilities throughout the state, to gather real-time, validated health care facility status information to help health care providers make more informed treatment decisions based on immediately available resources like open hospital beds, available staffing, personal protective equipment, and other critical health care assets.
“RMCCs will help facilitate multi-agency and civilian partner communication, critical information sharing, and coordination of health care related resources across the region they serve,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Corell, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard.
These coordination centers are located at Iowa National Guard armories in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Camp Dodge, Mason City, Council Bluffs and Sioux City.
“This scalable capability is a critical resource available to help decision makers save lives as conditions within the region change and normal response processes are not an option,” said Corell.
In addition to the RMCC mission, the Guard has established an operations center at its Joint Forces Headquarters in Johnston, along with task force headquarters at Camp Dodge, Iowa City and Sioux City to provide planning, coordination, communication, command and control of military forces activated in support of local, state and federal partners supporting regional response efforts across Iowa.
Every day, Iowa National Guard transportation units are on the road delivering medical personal protective equipment to county emergency management facilities across the state. With the assistance of the Iowa Departments of Transportation and Public Safety, all 99 counties have received shipments of PPE since these vital missions began on March 24.
Additionally, the Iowa National Guard is providing medical screening tents to hospitals and clinics in Polk, Pottawattamie, Mahaska and Clarke counties.
There are currently more than 200 Iowa National Guard Soldiers and Airmen on duty directly supporting the state’s COVID-19 response efforts.
To stay up to date on all of the Iowa National Guard’s COVID-19 response efforts, be sure to find us on Facebook and Instagram @IowaNationalGuard and follow us on Twitter @IowaNatGuard.