“It’s a pending crisis:” Healthcare Workers Prepare for the Vaccine Mandate

The upcoming deadline for healthcare workers being vaccinated against COVID-19 is vastly approaching, and an alarm is being sounded in Monroe County as it approaches. On September 27th, which is next Monday, with rare exception, employees at hospitals and nursing homes who have not had a covid vaccine won’t be allowed to work. Due to the upcoming mandate, some rehab and long-term care facilities, are bracing by closing their doors to new patients.

Ann Marie Cook, who is the CEO of Lifespan, stated: “It’s a community crisis, a pending community crisis…There are individuals who need nursing homes or long-term care and if providers can’t admit people because of serious workforce shortages then I don’t know how we can provide care…If there can’t be admissions to long-term care, if people coming out of the hospitals can’t get into rehab we have a community crisis on our hands. We just don’t have a lot of hospital capacity here so we’ll end up seeing a backup in the hospitals.”

Source: 13 WHAM