WEBVTT

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- Colonel Tom Leeper.

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I'm the Task Force Medical Commander

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for the Arizona National Guard.

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So, the Arizona National Guard

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has been working at vaccination
sites for several weeks;

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in fact, as soon as the
POD sites opened up.

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And as demand grows for the injections,

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the number of staff

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that are available to
administer them are shrinking.

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And the problem is that we've got folks

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that are employed by the
large healthcare systems

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that have been working at
these vaccination sites,

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but they need them in the hospitals.

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They need them in the
outpatient care settings,

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to take care of people that
have been affected by COVID.

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So, this is where the shortage comes in.

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And we had some volunteers
serendipitously raise their hand,

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and say, "What can we do to help?"

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You know, they stepped
up to answer the call.

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And so, the National
Guard really performs best

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in the role of a force multiplier,

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so, we quickly developed
an onboarding process,

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in conjunction with our partners

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at Arizona Department of Health Services,

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to bring these people onboard,

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and start helping us at the POD sites.

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We were contacted by a group of volunteers

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that said that they were
healthcare professionals

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that were retired,

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and they had time to help,

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and they had the skillsets,

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and they were a shoe-in, essentially.

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Right.

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So, throughout this whole pandemic,

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the Guard has been serving
in numerous different roles.

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So, one of the, my old adages is,

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"We don't only have brawn,
but we have brains,"

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and we are able to really truly multitask.

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And so, in addition to actually
working at the POD sites

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with our medics and our
medical professionals,

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we're able to develop programs

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that work as a force multiplier,

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so that we can add more
people to the fight,

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to help stem this pandemic.

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I've had numerous, numerous comments

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about the Guard presence.

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It's a calming effect.

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People are not so worried

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about the Guard being there,

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because they know that we're
in an emergency situation,

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a crisis situation,

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and to have the Guard there,

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performing vital functions,

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it's really comforting to
the citizens to see that,

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and to know that their
tax dollars are at work,

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and that they have a force
there that they can rely upon,

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in times of dire straits.

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Some of the issues that we
run into are licensure issues.

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So, the vast majority of these folks

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that have volunteered in this early phase

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have some type of medical license,

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or had a type of medical license.

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They're retired, they're not
keeping their license up.

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So, we're trying to work with the state

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and the licensing boards,

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to extend folks' license temporarily,

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so that they can come
and give these shots.

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Some of these folks

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have been giving shots
for years and years.

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A lot of them have given IM injections

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even more than I have.

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And so, they know what they're doing.

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They just haven't done it for a while,

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they haven't had a license for a while,

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and there's no reason

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that we can't get these
folks back in the fight.

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We also have a significant
population of volunteers

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that are from out of state.

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So, they have licenses from out of state,

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and we're trying to get them
temporary licenses in Arizona,

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under the provision for
COVID-19 emergency declaration,

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so that they can provide the same types

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of care and procedures

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that they would in their home state.

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Today, it's a small group of volunteers.

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This is, so to speak, our beta test,

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and we're just trying to
work all the kinks out.

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And we are really looking for more people

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to supplement this volunteer population.

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So, if you're interested,

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please log on to ESAR-VHP.

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It's under

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the Arizona Department of
Health Services webpage,

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and ESAR-VHP stands for

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the Emergency System for
Advanced Registration

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of Volunteer Health Professionals.

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If you log on there,
put your information in,

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they will get you credentialed
as quickly as possible,

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and then, contact the
Arizona National Guard,

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and we'll assist with
the onboarding process.