FEMA Awards Over $1.3 Million to Lahey Clinic Hospital for COVID Response Costs

– The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $1.3 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Lahey Clinic Hospital for the cost of paying overtime and other steps taken during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect patients, staff, visitors and the community.

The $1,316,146 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the physician-led nonprofit teaching hospital in Burlington – affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine – for the cost of paying overtime to staff to respond to the surge in patents caused by pandemic between March and September 2020, as well as other steps taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

Lahey Clinic Hospital contracted for work to set up a temporary COVID testing booth in its parking garage; to partition off isolation areas; and to reconfigure its entrances to restrict the main entrance to patients and visitors by installing a screening area, and converting the East entrance to an employee-only entrance,

The hospital also paid for temporary security staff and purchasing materials such as safety signs, plexiglass sneeze guards, and personal protective equipment (PPE) such as lab coats, masks, gloves, and surgical gowns.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Lahey Clinic Hospital 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.