Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health will add hundreds of temporary positions as is prepares for a surge of COVID-19 patients, according to mlive.com.
The temporary positions include nurses, respiratory therapists and cleaning staff.
Spectrum Health has "a lot of very talented and capable staff" but is seeking to overhire now because the 14-hospital health system "need[s] to plan for the fact that some of our staff will become ill," Pamela Ries, chief human resources officer at Spectrum Health, told mlive.com.
Ms. Ries said Spectrum Health will examine the possibility of reassigning or redeploying existing employees before it fills its temporary openings.
The temporary hiring push comes at Spectrum Health President and CEO Tina Freese Decker warned that the number of patients at the health system could exceed its capacity in early May, based on the growth rate of COVID-19 cases.
Michigan is one of the states hardest hit by the pandemic. As of 7:25 a.m. CDT April 1, there were 7,615 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state.
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