BOSTON - The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $2.6 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Tufts Medical Center for the cost of paying overtime to handle the increased patient load during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $2,600,272 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the teaching hospital in Boston affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine for overtime paid to staff needed to cope with increased patient loads.
Since January 2020, Tufts Medical Center has paid 1,319 staff members for more than 65,776 overtime hours needed to treat patients at the facility in Boston.
“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 to 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 $1.5 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.
Source: Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency
