FEMA Awards Almost $13.2 Million to UMass Memorial Health Care for COVID Staffing Costs

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending nearly $13.2 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse UMass Memorial Health Care for the cost of contracting for temporary nursing staff and paying existing staff for additional work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $13,178,453 in Public Assistance grants will reimburse the health care system in central Massachusetts – headquartered in Worcester and affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School – for hiring temporary staff and paying existing staff to work additional hours to deal with the surge in COVID patients between July 2022 and March 2023.

One grant of $9,974,714 will reimburse for contractors who provided 437 registered nurses who worked 127,892 hours, 36 respiratory care practitioners who worked 14,042 hours, 32 patient care technicians who worked 7,753 hours, and six surgical technicians who worked 1,135 hours. 

A second grant of $3,203,739 will reimburse UMass Memorial Health Care for paying 1,108 employees for performing a total of 109,047 hours of work providing care to patients; cleaning and disinfecting COVID-19 units and other areas; visitor screening; and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) to COVID-19 patients.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist UMass Memorial Health Care with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Reimbursing state, county, and municipal governments – as well as eligible non-profits and tribal entities – for the costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of our nation’s ongoing recovery.”

FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.

So far, FEMA has provided more than $2.8 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.