ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Strong Memorial Hospital will be receiving assistance from about 20 FEMA military medical professionals.

The group of doctors, nurses and respiratory technicians will be in Rochester for about one month. They are being deployed to Strong Hospital in an effort to offset ongoing staffing shortages.

The move is part of an effort by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Chuck Schumer to bolster support for hospitals around the state.

Officials say the COVID-19 surge this winter has been equal to that of the first year of the pandemic with as many as 250 patients at Strong Memorial Hospital suffering from the virus.

That number has started to come down, but the hospital says there are still more than 200 patients with COVID-19 currently being treated at Strong. More than 22% of hospital beds in Monroe County are now occupied by COVID-19 positive patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The surge has also presented challenges with local nursing homes being unable to accept additional patients. Hospital officials say at any given time, they usually have around 80 patients waiting to be discharged to a nursing home.

One thing that has provided an added challenge to the pandemic this year is the ongoing shortage of workers in Rochester, across the state and around the country. Many staff members have been out sick themselves, while others are missing work to care for a child or other family member.

Other workers have retired early due to pandemic-related exhaustion, according to Kathy Parrinello, COO and executive VP at Strong.

"The workforce challenges in health care have been enormous," said Parrinello. "So we're very grateful for this help that Sen. Schumer, the governor and others have helped us secure and we're looking forward to working with the team that will come and work with us."

Hospital officials say there are currently beds going unused because there aren't enough staff to cover them. The hope is that the incoming FEMA members will be able to cover those beds and increase capacity.

The FEMA military medical team members are scheduled to arrive next week.