April 22, 2020
Master Sgt. George Roach/U.S. Air National Guard
The Pennsylvania National Guard deployed a Joint Force Medical Strike Team to assist the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Delaware County during the COVID-19 crisis. Guard members are completing an array of coronavirus-related missions in the Philadelphia region.
The Pennsylvania National Guard has been tasked with carrying out various missions throughout the Philadelphia region amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Guard members delivered about 90,000 meals to Delaware County on Tuesday after officials requested help supplying the county's food pantries, KYW Newsradio reported. The meals were distributed in Chester, Upper Darby Township and the communities comprising the Interboro School District.
They also have established emergency stations in Philadelphia, Norristown, Montgomery County and Glen Mills, Delaware County. They have helped veterans on the streets of Philadelphia and previously aided a COVID-19 testing site in Upper Dublin, Montgomery County.
A post on the National Guard's website outlines its response to the COVID-19 crisis in Pennsylvania and its work with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. The guard can enter into active duty for missions designated by PEMA during a state of emergency.
About 1,000 of the guard's 19,000 members are on active duty.
Staff Sgt. Arthur Wolfe, a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, sews in the elastic ear straps to finish a cloth mask in Fort Indiantown Gap. About 850 Guard members have been deployed across the state to aid in coronavirus relief.
Staff Sgt. Zane Craig/U.S. Army National Guard
Guard members also have been deployed to the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Marple Township, Delaware County. The nursing home was hit hard by the coronavirus and was short of staff. About 18 military nurses and medics were deployed there after Delco officials requested help, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Saturday.
Guard members have delivered more than 225,000 meals across Pennsylvania, according to the Press and Journal. They also are helping at the Mohegan Sun Arena testing site in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, which opened Monday.
In Harrisburg, guard members have been working at a Department of Health warehouse facility, transporting medical supplies, including shipments of personal protective equipment. They've driven more than 12,000 miles since their deployment.
Some members are producing cloth face masks to for other guard members to wear in public, the organization announced Wednesday, a response to executive orders increasing the use of face masks.
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