BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $3.5 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Tufts Medical Center for the cost of hiring temporary staff to handle increased patient loads during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $3,512,207 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the teaching hospital in Boston affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine for the cost of paying 149 temporary employees a total of 45,047 straight time hours and 1,313 overtime hours between September 2020 and September 2021.
The hospital also contracted for interpreters needed to treat non-English speaking patients and patients with deafness, hearing loss or other medical conditions that affected communications.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Tufts Medical Center 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 $1.6 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.
Additional information about FEMA’s Public Assistance program is available at https://www.fema.gov/public-assistance-local-state-tribal-and-non-profit. To learn more about the COVID-19 response in Massachusetts, please visit https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4496
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FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters