CFAC funds National Guard call-up from federal relief funds

The care providers of Idaho’s hospitals are currently faltering from staffing shortages after months of pandemic exhaustion. As a result, Governor Brad Little called up the National Guard to help with health care staffing on Nov. 13.

To pay for that, the Coronavirus Financial Advisory Committee clawed back some previously-allocated but unspent federal relief funds on Nov. 16 and then recommended that $2 million of that be used to fund the National Guard’s response. Little approved it on Nov. 18.

Paying for what the COVID-19 pandemic has cost the state wasn’t exactly in Idaho’s budget for the previous or current fiscal year. Emergency call-ups of the National Guard are traditionally funded through emergency funds managed through the Governor’s office.

On March 27, which was part of the state’s previous fiscal year, Little transferred $39 million out of Idaho’s tax relief fund and moved it to the governor’s emergency fund so there would be something on hand to pay for COVID-19-related costs.

At the time, Little said that some of those funds would be replenished by federal relief money made available through the CARES Act. He explained the $39 million transfer as expedience, explaining that “we don’t want to wait,” for the federal government to make those funds available. Since that time, the disaster emergency fund saw a lot of use, and so did the state’s $1.25 billion pot of CARES relief.

Even before Little signed the executive order calling up the National Guard, Brad Richy, the director of the Idaho Office of Emergency Management, and Major General Michael Garshak of the Idaho National Guard, requested $2 million from CFAC for the state’s disaster emergency account. The money would fund the call-up of 100 guard members for a period of 30 days.

The request came before CFAC on Nov. 17. Before the committee discussed the matter, it recommended pulling back $2.57 million from the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections. The money was for the proposed upgrades of its facility in St. Anthony but it was apparent that the project could not be completed before the federal Dec. 30 deadline for the use of CARES Act funds. CFAC chair Alex Adams did note that Little intended to address the needs of the IDJC St. Anthony’s facility in his budget recommendation to the Legislature in January.

CFAC also approved clawing back unused funds from the Governor’s Public Safety Initiative, which totaling $61.1 million. Adams clarified that this money is separate from the allocations cities and counties received as
part of the initial public safety allocations, which was not included in this pullback.

Both Air and Army National Guards troops began their deployment the week of Nov. 16. at hospitals, clinics and medical testing facilities around the Treasure Valley. At a joint press conference held on Nov. 19 by the National Guard and the Saint Alphonsus Medical Group, Brig. Gen. Russ Johnson explained some of the mechanics of the deployment: “We take a look at the missions requests that come in and we take a look at which ones we’re best suited for, where we can rapidly get folks in and on task — and assign them that way.”

He also commented that the deployments were taking place statewide, not just in the Treasure Valley. Johnson added: “This is what we consider to be a non-standard mission. Most of our domestic operations are, whether they are fighting fires or floods. The equipment and the uniforms we wear are the same but the training does differ … we do require and get the specialized training to equip our soldiers with the knowledge and the experience to work effectively.”

Like other provider organizations in Idaho, Saint Alphonsus requested and received troops to help mitigate staffing shortages caused by the growing number of COVID-19 cases in its service areas of Ada and Canyon counties. The health care provider spent much of Nov. 18 training the Guard troops in handling tasks at Saint Alphonsus hospital and primary care clinics. The Guard will help with tasks such as traffic control and patient flow at testing locations and medical facilities, patient registration and, for those who have health care experience, jobs such as collecting COVID-19 samples for lab analysis.

“Due to the increased incidence of COVID-19 and community need for testing and evaluation, we have prioritized our clinical staffing at our Saint Alphonsus COVID testing sites, resulting in temporary suspension of services at other urgent care clinics,” said Dr. Mark Nassir, President of the Saint Alphonsus Medical Group.  “The assistance provided by the Idaho National Guard medical personnel brings incredible lift to our mission.  We express gratitude and thanks on behalf of the hard-working, dedicated healthcare professionals serving on the front lines of this pandemic battle, as they care for all patients across our Idaho communities.”