PROVIDENCE (AP) – Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee said Friday that the administration would try to find new assignments for health care workers employed by the state who are refusing a coronavirus vaccination.
The state’s health care worker vaccine mandate took effect Friday, the day after a federal judge tossed a constitutional challenge to the requirement filed by four people who work in the health care field. Workers who don’t comply are at risk of losing their state licenses and jobs.
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McKee said during an appearance on WPRO radio that there are a “small amount” of holdouts, but he doesn’t want to put people out of work.
“We might be able to put them in another department,” he said. “We don’t want people to be without pay or without health care coverage and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He said he would also encourage hospitals and other health care organizations to take the same approach.
He stood by the mandate.
“We’ve made a policy that we feel as though is in the best interest of the safety of the people in the state of Rhode Island,” he told the station.
The president of Care New England Health System, the state’s second largest hospital group, said Friday that “a nominal percentage” of its workforce chose not to be vaccinated and the organization has plans in place to accommodate any temporary staffing shortages.
“We understand that receiving a vaccination is a personal choice, which we respect,” President and CEO Dr. James E. Fanale said in a statement. “Health care workers who were not vaccinated before today are not being allowed to work at any Care New England hospital, in order to preserve our commitment to world class care for our patients, and to protect staff.”
Care New England, which operates Women and Infants, Butler, and Kent hospitals, has about 8,000 employees.
Lifespan Corp., which operates Rhode Island, Miriam, Hasbro Children’s, Newport and Bradley hospitals, said 98% of its workforce of 16,500 employees are now fully or partially vaccinated as of Friday. A Lifespan spokesperson said the vaccine requirement had a “slight impact” on an “already tough staffing situation,” although the roughly 330 employees who remain unvaccinated are “well distributed” across various facilities, departments, services and roles.
The remaining holdouts are still being allowed to get vaccinated to retain their jobs and re-enter the workplace, the company said, while thanking its staff for fighting through the pandemic.
“We are holding vaccination clinics today and are still encouraging all employees to get vaccinated,” said Timothy J. Babineau, president and CEO of Lifespan. “If an employee chooses to get vaccinated at a later date, we will welcome them back to work. I am extremely thankful for Lifespan’s dedicated team of health care professionals, who each day come to work to provide high quality care to our patients. I recognize the physical and emotional strain the pandemic has put on them and I am truly grateful for their service.”
Lifespan said it’s looking to temporary contracted staff to fill in the gaps. The staffing issues have led to longer wait times at Lifespan hospitals, the company said, and recently the nonprofit company shut down part of its emergency department at Rhode Island Hospital called the “C-Pod” unit, which had the capacity to serve 14-20 patients
“We have been making contingency plans for weeks and are convening daily to assess the situation,” said Kathleen Hart, a Lifespan spokesperson in an email discussing the situation. “We are pulling in contract staff where we can and will reassign and reduce non-urgent services when necessary. There are longer wait times in high traffic areas such as our emergency departments, both adult and pediatrics and we ask patients/families/visitors to be patient as our team works hard to care for patients. We also ask patients to seek care from their primary care doctor, first, for non-emergent issues and only come to a hospital emergency department for urgent, life-threatening care.”
Update: Adds paragraphs 11-15 with additional details from Lifespan Corp.
PBN contributed to this report.
