The $1,125,303 FEMA Public Assistance grant to the Yale New Haven Health System-affiliated hospital will reimburse it for some of the additional costs of operating in a pandemic environment between January 2020 and June 2022.

Those costs included overtime for Bridgeport Hospital personnel; contracting for additional staff; purchasing materials such as personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, face shields, and gowns), oxygen concentrators and oxygen supplies, and testing supplies.

The hospital also installed edge guards and negative air machines to create additional COVID-19 treatment space; provided transportation for patients between hospitals for treatment, and purchased IT hardware and software for its COVID-19 call center.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Bridgeport Hospital with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Reimbursing state, county, and municipal governments – as well as eligible non-profits and tribal entities – for the costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of our nation’s ongoing recovery.”

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 $813 million in Public Assistance grants to Connecticut to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.

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