California To Expand Health Care Workforce To Fight Coronavirus

CALIFORNIA — The state of California is launching a new program to expand its health care workforce to treat new coronavirus patients, calling on a wide range of medical professionals including retirees and medical students to help the state fight COVID-19, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday.

Through the program, California Health Corps, the state hopes to add several thousand new health care workers, who will be compensated for their work, Newsom said.

The state is seeking health care professionals with an active license, retired medical workers, medical and nursing students who are close to graduating, professionals currently getting licensed and members of medical disaster response teams in California.

In the last four days, the state’s number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations has doubled to 1,432, and the number of patients housed in intensive care units has tripled to 597, Newsom said.

The workers can sign up on a new state website, healthcorps.ca.gov, which includes a full list of professions the state is looking for. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will provide stipends to some Health Corps workers to cover child care and transportation costs, according to Newsom.

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The locations will vary, but the state will try to match workers with their geographical preferences, according to the state.

At a news conference, Newsom described the effort as a "call to action" for the state's health care workers as coronavirus cases grow in California and across the country.

Also on Monday, Newsom signed an executive order that temporarily waives some of the state's licensing requirements for medical workers, which his office said will allow hospitals to staff at least 50,000 new hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.

According to the Health Corps website, California is seeking these health care workers:

• Physicians (MD, DO), including medical students
• Pharmacists
• Dentists
• Nurse practitioners
• Physician assistants
• Nurses (RN, LVN, CNA), including nursing students
• Behavioral health professionals (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, LCSW, LMFT, LPCC)
• Respiratory therapists
• Paramedics
• Medical assistants
• Emergency medical technicians

Full coronavirus coverage: California Coronavirus: Latest Updates On Cases, Orders, Closures