CLEVELAND — As the National Guard prepares to shift its resources, Cleveland’s University Hospitals prepares to send off some Guard members on Thursday. 

What You Need To Know

  • Nearly 2,300 Ohio National Guard have been deployed to assist hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients

  • University Hospitals will be honoring members who are departing the hospital

  • University Hospitals said it welcomed 270 members of the National Guard amid a surge in COVID-19 patients in NE Ohio

  • The NE Ohio region has seen a significant decline in COVID-19 hospital patients in the last two weeks, according to Ohio Hospital Association data

The hospital system said that some of the Guard members who have been posted at its hospitals will be celebrated with “clap-outs.” The clap-outs will occur at the UH Parma Medical Center.

“They will celebrate their new-found frontline teammates who may leave UH Parma Medical Center in Guard uniform rather than scrubs, but will forever be considered a part of the UH family,” University Hospitals said in a press release.

The hospital said some Guard members will continue to provide assistance to the emergency department, intensive care unit and COVID floors to dietary and environmental services (housekeeping). 

At the end of 2021, University Hospitals welcomed 270 members of the Guard who provided assistance for its hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. At the time, northeast Ohio led the state in COVID-19 hospital patients, according to the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA). 

By Jan. 5, northeast Ohio had 1,754 COVID-19 patients. In the weeks since, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dropped to 1,124 in northeast Ohio, the OHA said. 

As the Ohio National Guard prepares to close a COVID-19 testing site at Cleveland’s University Circle, the Guard is assisting more testing sites in southern Ohio.

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