By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Across the nation, hospitals are calculating the best way to get their employees vaccinated against COVID.
Some hospitals have already taken steps to require staff to be vaccinated, but most have not.
At Wood County Hospital, the administration has been strongly encouraging and facilitating vaccinations, according to hospital President Stan Korducki.
“Our focus is really on making sure as many people can get vaccinated,” among employees, families and patients, he said.
The vaccination rates for hospitals across the country vary greatly, often reflecting the rates of their regions.
At Wood County Hospital, the vaccination rate for staff is between 75% and 80%.
“It is catching hold,” Korducki said.
“We all really want our staffs to be vaccinated,” Korducki said Friday. “I’m trying to depoliticize it – at least within our organization.”
A federal mandate for health care workers may take the issue out of hospitals’ hands.
Last month, in response to soaring COVID cases and stagnant vaccination numbers, President Joe Biden announced broad orders to stave off the virus.
Under the new rules, businesses with more than 100 workers must require their employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly for the virus. There is no testing option included for hospital employees.
Though the details are not yet known, the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will have to be fully vaccinated.
Wood County Hospital is using factual information to convince employees that getting the vaccine is the smart step, Korducki said. So far this year, Ohio hospitals have reported that 97% of patients admitted for COVID are unvaccinated, and 99% of those who died from the virus did not have the vaccine.
“It says something about the efficacy of the vaccine,” Korducki said. “We’re all about helping patients get well and protecting our staff.”
Like other health care facilities, Wood County Hospital is in limbo right now.
“We’re watching the executive order and waiting for the rules to come out,” he said. “We’ll see what they say.”
Korducki isn’t sure if some hospitals might welcome a federal mandate, but he added that it is always preferable if people come to the decision themselves rather than through a mandate.
“Most people prefer to be persuaded rather than told,” he said. “We’ll wait until the guardrails are set and the rules are crystalized.”
However, Korducki pointed out that public health philosophies apply during a pandemic. “I think there’s a public health side to this.”
Korducki stressed that all Wood County Hospital employees take other precautions prescribed by federal health agencies.
“Our people are working in PPE,” he said.
It remains unclear how a vaccine mandate will affect the already stretched staffing at hospitals.
“Right now – in America, Ohio, Northwest Ohio – there aren’t enough nurses for the demand,” Korducki said. In addition to nurses, hospitals are short on respiratory therapists and medical assistants.
“None of us have enough of them,” he said.
That shortage, Korducki said, has him enthusiastic about new health care programs at Bowling Green State University.
“That’s going to help in the years ahead,” he said.
The medical profession has worked hard to keep pace with COVID over the almost two years, he added.
“We know a lot more about this vaccine. We’ve developed more tools for managing patients,” he said. “There will be an end to this. We just need to keep our heads down and keep working.”
