Time is running out for staff at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance to get vaccinated against COVID or risk losing their jobs.
However, CEO Lori Marshall says with just over a week before the hospital’s mandatory vaccination policy comes into effect, she’s quite pleased with the numbers.
97.1% of staff have either been fully or partially vaccinated in order to meet the October 31st deadline, with only 31 individual staff members either declining to get the shots or choosing not to disclose their vaccination status.
Marshall says the number of staff who could be laid off at the end of the month is small enough that there won’t be any negative impact to patient care.
“The split continues to be across clinical and non-clinical areas and a number of these positions are also casual or temporary positions,” she explains.
The hospital is working with its union partners to combine some part-time positions into full-time to help bridge the gap.
Marshall says there are also active recruitment efforts for various positions within the organization, including some unrelated to the vaccine mandate.
Meantime, the municipality of Chatham-Kent is reporting some fairly high numbers of its own.
On October 1st, the municipality’s mandatory vaccine policy went into effect stating employees and volunteers with the municipality of Chatham-Kent must be fully vaccinated to go to work and meetings with proof of vaccination required by October 18th.
In what municipal officials call an overwhelmingly positive response, 86% of those affected provided that proof, and another 6% have received at least one shot.
“We are encouraged by the number of employees who have vaccinated in an effort to do our part to keep one another and those that we serve healthy and safe,” says Cathy Hoffman, the municipality’s Chief Human Resources Officer.
On October 4th, council approved a COVID-19 Vaccination Policy for council and committee members that is currently being implemented. A separate policy for contractors will be implemented soon.
