The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded $4.7 million to Worcester healthcare provider UMass Memorial Health for costs of testing, new equipment, and new staff due to COVID-19.
The funding is split between two grants. The first, totalling $3.4 million, goes toward the cost of 107,246 COVID tests administered between January and July 2020, as well as hiring temporary healthcare workers and setting up tents with generators and HVAC installations.
The second grant of $1.3 million reimburses UMass Memorial Health for the cost of purchasing reagent dispensers and bedside monitors, as well as renting 945 ventilators between August 2021 and March 2022.
This marks the third time FEMA has awarded money to UMass Memorial Health for its expenses during the COVID crisis, following grants totaling $3.6 million in September and $23 million in November.Â
FEMA has provided more than $1.4 billion in public assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the organizations in commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.
