WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Multiple Wisconsin National Guard teams are at the new alternate care facility (ACF) at State Fair Park to lend a hand, part of a Guard force of more than 1,000 members supporting state COVID-19 response efforts.
A team of Citizen-Soldiers supported warehouse operations at the alternate care facility as it was set up, while another team of approximately 60 Guard members is preparing to take on roles including patient care assistants and supply specialists at the facility.
Additional Wisconsin National Guard members are standing by to support the facility if needed.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the facility at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis the past few weeks, and state and local officials are coordinating resources to staff and support the facility as it prepares to open.
“We are helping organize the shipments that are coming into the warehouse here, and then we are helping bring all the material into setting up the rooms,” said Sgt. Andrew Minster, a medic assigned to the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry. “I chose to enlist in the National Guard because this is what I wanted to do – to help my community out and help the state out.”
Staff Sgt. Mark Affeltranger, a Soldier from the Eau Claire-based 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry, and the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Guard’s warehouse mission at the ACF, said he hopes that efforts can relieve some of the stress on the state’s hospitals.
“It’s important to me to be a Citizen-Soldier because I love being in the military and giving back to my community,” he said. “I always volunteer for missions like this because it’s what I love to do, and I know I’m making a difference and helping out.”
Spc. Cory Couineya, a medic assigned to the 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery based in Wisconsin Rapids, said he was grateful for the opportunity to serve his state.
“It’s nice to help out the community, do good things, and be a part of something that’s bigger than just staying at home,” he said.
The Wisconsin National Guard has fulfilled a variety of roles across the state since its response to the COVID-19 pandemic began March 12. Twenty Guard Soldiers are assisting the Wisconsin Department of Health Services at a state warehouse receiving personal protective equipment (PPE) shipments from around the state, repackaging them, and redistributing them to areas in need.
The Wisconsin National Guard mobilized about 225 troops to help with mobile COVID-19 testing. One team is operating at the Milwaukee County House of Correction, collecting specimens from more than 900 staff and inmates, and two other teams are supporting health clinics in Milwaukee. Additional teams are also forming to expand testing in Wisconsin.
A National Guard team established a mobile specimen collection site at a senior living facility in Sheboygan April 5 to test staff and residents at the facility. Teams of 12 troops are serving as medical and administrative staff at two state-run, voluntary self-isolation facilities in Milwaukee and Madison, while another 30 are serving at a Milwaukee County self-isolation facility. Another Guard team is helping the Dane County Coroner’s Office.
Elsewhere in the state, Wisconsin Guard members augmented medical staff at a senior living facility in Grafton for three days after a COVID-19 outbreak. And more than 2,400 Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen served as poll workers in 71 of the state's 72 counties during the April 7 election.
Guard members also transported a group of Wisconsin residents returning from a cruise ship with confirmed COVID-19 cases back to their homes in mid-March after a weeks-long ordeal.
More than 1,000 members of the Wisconsin National Guard are supporting the state’s response to COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 44,500 National Guard members are assisting in the fight against the coronavirus
Spc. Emma Anderson contributed to this report.
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