MURRAY — Intermountain Healthcare announced Saturday it will send two COVID-19 response teams to New York City in a few days.

The clinicians will assist New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Northwell Health, according to an Intermountain news release.

"These healthcare systems will aim to return the favor by supporting Intermountain as much as they can when Utah faces its own surge with COVID-19 patients," it says.

Each team of 50 volunteers includes physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, respiratory therapists and more. They will serve in New York for up to two weeks.

Intermountain believes that Utah's COVID-19 surge will happen in May or June, the release says, so "caregivers will be back to the Intermountain service area when help is needed most."

In a press conference Saturday morning, Intermountain chief medical officer for specialty based care Dr. Paul Krakovitz said "hundreds" of Intermountain caregivers have expressed interest in helping where it's needed most.

Dr. Paul Krakovitz, MD, with @Intermountain, says the best experience with #coronavirus is hands-on experience. Utah doctors will get that in NYC to be better prepared for Utah’s peak. pic.twitter.com/R21366gZUk — Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) April 11, 2020

"We expect that as our teams come back, they will come back with a lot of firsthand knowledge that will only make our care better for the patients of Utah," he said.

Krakovitz called the move a "moment of great honor" for Intermountain. "They are going out of a source of duty," he said.

He said Intermountain will be providing personal protective equipment for its teams and has been given "assurances" by its New York partners that they will provide PPE as well.

Dr. Dixie Harris, a critical care pulmonary specialist, is one of the 100 caregivers traveling to New York. Though two weeks ago it looked like there would be no clinicians to spare, it turns out Utah has done "pretty well" in caring for COVID-19 patients, she said.

"I'm just really grateful that Intermountain as a system has decided to put this together," Harris said, "because it means more than just one doc going. We're actually going to really help them in all different specialties."

The first team will leave on Tuesday, April 14 and serve in the Queens area, Krakovitz said.

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