MPR News PM Update
 
Good morning,

Colder temperatures expected with cloudy skies. Highs around 40 and dropping to single digits northwest, to upper teens southeast in the evening. But travel for Thanksgiving looks pretty dry and clear. [Get weather updates from Updraft.]
Rachel Mockros (left) checks in on Esther Renner Friday at St. Benedict’s Community. Mockros is the director of emergency preparedness for CentraCare, but has volunteered to take on shifts as a basic care aide to help out with staffing at the St. Cloud, Minn., facility.
Paul Middlestaedt for MPR News
By Kirsti Marohn

As director of emergency preparedness for CentraCare, Rachel Mockros spends most days during the pandemic in virtual meetings on a computer screen, planning for disasters.

But last Friday, Mockros worked a shift as a basic care aide at St. Benedict's Care Center, a nursing home in St. Cloud. Wearing blue scrubs with her hair in a bun, she hustled from one room to another as residents pushed their call buttons.

"We help with brushing teeth. We help with getting dressed,” she said. “We help with whatever it is they may need — brushing their hair, going to the bathroom, taking a bath."

Like other health care systems, CentraCare — which operates St. Benedict’s Care Center, St. Cloud Hospital and other health care facilities in central Minnesota — is overwhelmed by the latest surge of COVID-19 and a staffing shortage.

To help relieve the crunch, CentraCare offers employees the opportunity to fill in where they’re most needed, even if it’s well outside of their career experience.

 
Kit Bielenberg, an occupational health nurse at HCMC, helps U.S. Air Force medical staff fit their N95 masks at HCMC on Tuesday.
Matt Sepic | MPR News
By Matt Sepic

Nearly four dozen doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists from the U.S. military are on the ground in Minnesota to ease the strain on the state’s health care system. On Thursday, they'll start providing patient care.

Gov. Tim Walz asked the Defense Department for help because hospitals across the state are beyond capacity caring for COVID-19 patients. Despite high rates of vaccination and booster shots, Minnesota led the nation last week in new per-capita COVID-19 infections. Hospitals are full as they care for the most serious patients.

Two medical response teams of mostly Air Force personnel are shadowing staff at CentraCare Hospital in St. Cloud and HCMC in Minneapolis before they start providing patient care.
 
What else we're watching
Man charged with 5 homicide counts in deadly Waukesha crash. Prosecutors in Wisconsin have charged a man with intentional homicide in the deaths of five people who were killed when an SUV was driven into a Christmas parade. Prosecutors say a sixth person, a child, has died and additional charges are pending.

COVID-19 spike sending MN students home, closing schools. Minnesota’s rise in COVID-19 cases is prompting some school leaders to cancel classes, move students to distance learning or make changes to their safety policies.

Jury finds rally organizers liable for the violence that broke out in Charlottesville
Plaintiffs alleged that the organizers and participants of the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally conspired to commit violence and interfered with their right to be free from racially-motivated violence.
– Matt Mikus, MPR News
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