‘Enemy that needs to be defeated.’ Army deploys Tri-Cities nurse to fight new threat

A Kennewick Army Reserve captain has traded his body armor for personal protective equipment.

Capt. Brandon King, an emergency department nurse at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, has been deployed to the East Coast as part of the Army’s Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces helping areas hard hit by the new coronavirus.

“This means everything to me,” he said. “It’s historic. The Army Reserve has never mobilized this number of people this quickly to deploy on our own soil to aid the American people.”

The Army called up medical professionals in Army Reserve units from across the nation to form 15 task forces. All reservists were vetted to ensure they could be spared from providing medical care in their own communities.

Each task force has the capability of providing the same service as a 250-bed hospital, according to Gen. James C. McConville.

They are being assigned to low-acuity care, including testing for COVID-19, to ease the load on medical professionals in states that need more help, starting with New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The task force King is assigned to is providing medical care at a community hospital in New Jersey, a state where more than 5,800 people have died of complications of COVID-19.

King sees his deployment as the embodiment of the line in the Soldier’s Creed that says “I am the guardian of freedom and the American way of life.”

The new coronavirus has posed a bigger threat to the American way of life, arguably, than anything since World War II, he said.

“We need to get our country back,” he says. “We need to get back to enjoying the freedom so many have fought and died for.”

That means getting workers back on the job, children back in school and people enjoying sports again, whether it is a pickup game of basketball with friends or rooting for their favorite professional team.

“Our children need to be able to go and hug their grandparents without fear of anyone getting sick,” said King, whose wife, Candice, is in Kennewick with their three children.

They have supported his deployment in “what is already a very stressful time,” he said.

Each task force has 85 reservists, including 14 doctors, 16 medics and 13 nurses, plus a range of other specialists such as physician assistants, dentists, pharmacists, clinical psychologists and dietitians.

“Our weapons in this fight are sound medical practice and compassion,” King said. “Other than that, it’s still an enemy that needs to be defeated, and it will be.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 2:50 PM.