DETROIT (FOX 2) - The makeshift hospital at the TCF Center in downtown Detroit has been officially open for five days now, with a visit coming Wednesday from an esteemed guest.
Lt. Gen. Richardson is the Joint Force Land Component Commander Laura Richardson stopped by the facility where 16 patients are currently receiving care.
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Army Lt. General visits new hospital at TCF Center in Detroit
Lt. General Laura Richardson, the Commanding General of U.S. Army North, paid a special visit Wednesday to the new COVID-19 care facility at TCF Center in downtown Detroit.
"Whenever we have hurricanes, floods, fires, anything like that, on the active duty side of the house I'm the commander for that," she explained.
She's based out of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and has recently made other trips to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts to check out each facility and make sure troops have the resources they need.
"Just making sure everything is good to go and that we're doing what the state needs us to do," she said.
General Richardson called the teamwork between FEMA, the National Guard and each state that she's seen across the country incredible.
"I'm so proud of them. Oh my gosh. A pandemic is not something you'd expect except maybe every 100 years or something like that," she said.
The folks in Detroit are proud to serve their nation from home. General Richardson is making sure they're taking care of themselves, too.
"You've got to keep taking care of the patients and you got to take care of the personnel that are sick," she said.
General Richardson said after visiting some of those other makeshift hospitals, she is impressed by the preparation here in Detroit.
"To see the TCF facility where they actually have the patient rooms and taking care of people right now is just so incredible. I'm really, really proud of everybody."
General Richardson is thankful to the emergency physician from the Michigan Department of Health who designed the makeshift hospital and to everyone who was able to get it up and running in just 11 days.
"We're bringing a good, positive light of hope to everybody with all of the folks that are chipping in and working, really, 24/7, day and night, aggressively working to beat this enemy."