FEMA Awards Over $30 Million to UMass Memorial Health Care for COVID-19 Temporary Hospital Costs

BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $30 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. for the cost of setting up and running a temporary hospital facility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $30,585,674 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the health care system in central Massachusetts – headquartered in Worcester and affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School – for the cost of converting the DCU Convention Center in Worcester into a temporary hospital and operating it.

Between April 2020 and October 2021, UMass Memorial Health Care set up and operated a complete hospital at the DCU Center to handle the overflow of patients caused by the pandemic.

That included purchasing medical supplies and equipment including infusion pumps, compression systems, hospital beds, oxygen concentrator, feeding pumps, x-ray accessories, utility carts, blanket warming cabinet, aspirators, humidifiers, access control readers, liquid oxygen, ultrasound machine, fax machines, nurse call systems, ambulance cots, defibrillators, convection steamers, and monitors.

The hospital also contracted for 1,943 medical staff consisting of registered nurses, certified nurse assistants, patient care technicians, respiratory care practitioners, registered respiratory therapists, and pharmacy technicians, all of whom worked a combined 144,932 hours.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation.”

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 $1.7 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.