Staff’s Covid Vaccine Protest Halts Baby Deliveries At NY Hospital
After 30 staffers quit over a covid vaccine mandate, Lewis County General Hospital says it can't safely operate its maternity department. The death of an Alabama man after treatment refusals at 43 overwhelmed hospitals, plus Intermountain Healthcare delaying almost all surgeries are also in health care industry covid news.
The Hill:
Hospital To Stop Delivering Babies After 30 Staffers Quit Over Vaccine Mandate
A hospital in upstate New York will stop delivering babies later this month after 30 staffers quit in protest of the facility’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald Cayer announced at a press conference on Friday that Lewis County General Hospital will be “unable to safely staff” its maternity department beginning Sept. 25. (Schnell, 9/12)
The Washington Post:
Alabama Man Ray DeMonia Dies After 43 Hospitals Did Not Have An ICU Bed, Family Says
When Ray DeMonia was having a cardiac emergency last month, his Alabama family waited anxiously for a nearby hospital with available space in its intensive care unit. But in a state where coronavirus infections and unvaccinated patients have overwhelmed hospitals in recent months, finding an available ICU bed was an ordeal. It was so difficult, his family wrote this month, that the hospital in his hometown of Cullman, Ala., contacted 43 others in three states — and all were unable to give him the care he needed. (Bella, 9/12)
Modern Healthcare:
Intermountain Delaying Almost All Surgeries Amid COVID-19 Surge
Intermountain Healthcare is pausing almost all surgeries to preserve capacity amid a crush of COVID-19 patients, the not-for-profit integrated health system announced Friday. The pause on "urgent but not immediately life threatening" surgeries begins Sept. 15 and will probably last a couple of weeks, Intermountain Healthcare CEO Dr. Marc Harrison said at a news conference. The suspension of surgeries affects 13 of the Salt Lake City-based health system's 24 hospitals. Rural hospitals and its orthopedic specialty hospital and children's hospital are exempt. (Bannow, 9/10)
In related news —
AP:
County Employees Could Work At Hospital Burdened By COVID-19
A northwest Georgia county is negotiating an agreement for its employees to work extra at the local hospital, which is over capacity because of COVID-19 patients. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that Gordon County commissioners are near a deal to let county employees assist at AdventHealth Gordon when not working for the county. The hospital would pay the employees. (9/12)
Philadelphia Inquirer:
Expiring COVID-19 Waivers Could Make Pa. Health-Care Staffing Shortages Worse
Regulatory waivers established last year to help hospitals and health-care workers fight COVID-19 will expire this month, and those in the field are warning the lapse could exacerbate an ongoing staffing crisis as coronavirus cases rise again. At the beginning of the pandemic, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf approved nearly 100 waivers to ease some of the rules governing health-care workers and ensure as many professionals as possible were on the ground in hospitals, vaccination clinics, and long-term care facilities. (Ohl, 9/13)
The Border Belt Independent:
Rural North Carolina Hospital Leader Emerges As Outspoken Critic Of COVID ‘Noise’
As the leader of a rural North Carolina hospital, Joann Anderson has spent the last 18 months figuring out how to best care for patients sick with COVID-19. Just when she thought the coronavirus pandemic had leveled off this summer, offering a glimmer of hope for a new and calmer kind of normal, a surge in cases began to overwhelm UNC Health Southeastern in Robeson County. Now Anderson is mad, and she’s letting everybody know about it. “I don’t use words like ‘infuriated’ or ‘frustrated,’” said Anderson, president and CEO of the hospital in Lumberton in southeastern North Carolina. “That’s not my norm. But I am about this situation.” (Nagem, 9/12)
ABC News:
Some Nursing Homes Carry Out Successful Staff Vaccine Mandates Amid Pushback Over Federal Rules
The Biden administration in recent weeks has announced a series of mandates that require long-term care facilities to fully vaccinate staff against COVID-19, drawing mixed responses from providers, industry leaders and advocates, including those who said the federal policies will put extra strain on an industry already suffering a workforce shortage. But some nursing homes said they've already successfully implemented their own mandates without a significant impact on their workforces, which officials say showcases how the new federal rules can be carried out to protect vulnerable elderly residents amid yet another coronavirus surge. (Rin Kim and Bhatt, 9/12)
