Vaccine mandate affects Buffalo area hospital jobs, services

• Vaccination rates by employees at health care systems and hospitals climbed in the days leading up to the mandate taking effect. At Catholic Health System, 90% of employees were in compliance as of Sunday afternoon, compared to 83% as of last Friday.

• But hundreds of employees were still put on leave or lost their jobs for not being in compliance. At Erie County Medical Center, 5% of its hospital workers – 176 in all – were placed on an unpaid 30-day leave.

• The impact on services was mixed. Some hospitals reported no impact, while others, including ECMC and Catholic Health System, suspended some type of surgeries amid the rollout of the mandate.

• And nursing homes are also pushing to boost vaccination rates among their workers. As of Saturday, 88% of nursing home workers statewide had at least one Covid shot. So did 87% of workers in the 70 nursing homes in Western New York.

The mandate is adding to the staffing crunch health care employers were already facing, but Gov. Kathy Hochul has been steadfast about keeping it in place.

The mandate is also posing a challenge to unvaccinated workers who don't have an exemption and will lose their jobs, since the state Labor Department says those workers will not be eligible for unemployment benefits. 

The state doesn't want to allow health care workers a religious exemption from the Covid-19 vaccine, but that piece of the mandate is being challenged in court. The case's outcome might not be determined until mid-October, leaving the question of a religious exemption unresolved for now.

Adjusting to the mandate

Across ECMC's operations, about 7% of the workforce – 276 in all – was placed on leave. That included the 5% on leave at the hospital, and 20% of staff at the Terrace View Long-Term Care facility. ECMC has warned employees put on 30-day leave that they face losing their jobs if they remain unvaccinated when that time period expires.

As planned, ECMC took a number of steps Monday in order to keep functioning. The hospital has suspended elective inpatient surgeries, while allowing elective outpatient surgeries to continue. And for now, ECMC is not accepting intensive care unit transfers from other area medical centers, unless they are critical trauma cases.

ECMC reduced units at Terrace View, and reduced hours at ECMC's outpatient clinics to ensure staff members could support inpatient care in the main hospital.

ECMC's vaccination rate has risen to 93% across its entire workforce, including the hospital and Terrace View, said Peter Cutler, a hospital spokesman. That figure was 87% in late August.

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center said a total of 60 workers – including 12 registered nurses – were separated from their jobs at the hospital and Schoellkopf Health Center. "These positions are spread out throughout the hospital and Schoellkopf, so the lack of clustering of separations have allowed us to continue our same level of service," said Alexander Collichio, vice president of human resources.

Collichio said the workforce had reached a 95% vaccination rate, before cutting loose workers who weren't in compliance. And he said aggressive recruiting for new employees after the mandate had been announced had paid off, with 41 offers of employment accepted in August, and another 53 other such offers accepted this month.

At Catholic Health System, "several hundred individuals" were vaccinated in the last week alone, said William Pryor, Catholic Health's chief administrative officer.

By Sunday afternoon, Catholic Health said 90% of workers covered by the mandate were in compliance, and by Monday was at full compliance, when counting vaccinated workers, those on leave, and those with exemptions.

Catholic Health said a small number of elective surgeries were postponed Monday, and that the health system will "continue to assess whether any other services will be affected as the week progresses."

Catholic Health had warned employees if they remained unvaccinated, and lacked an authorized exemption, they would be placed on a 30-day unpaid leave. After that, employees will be "subject to termination unless they meet the requirements of the mandate."

At Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, 97% of the workforce is vaccinated, and fewer than 80 employees requested exemptions. Roswell Park hasn't put any employees on leave, and "we don't expect that this number will be very high in the days ahead because nearly all our staff have been vaccinated," said Annie Deck-Miller, a spokeswoman.

In Lockport, Eastern Niagara Hospital said it had reached a 97% vaccination rate with its workforce, said Anne McCaffrey, president and CEO.

"All hospital services and elective surgeries will continue with no interruption as a result of this incredibly high vaccination rate." When the mandate was announced, 25% of the hospital's workforce was unvaccinated.

Kaleida Health spokesman Michael Hughes reported Monday that 94% of the health care system’s overall workforce has been vaccinated. He said that the rate for the staff that interacts with patients is 97%.

Hughes noted nearly 400 employees had received one shot, have been fully vaccinated or have reported their vaccination status since the middle of last week, but added, "Approximately 100 employees have been or will be separated from the organization this week due to lack of vaccination."

He said that about 200 other employees have requested religious exemptions, which are considered conditional, pending a decision in a federal court case on Oct. 12.

Over the past week, the number of people in Erie and Niagara counties receiving first-dose vaccinations increased 25% over the week before. That was the highest weekly total for new vaccinations in months, with health care workers accounting for some of the increase.

Legal challenge

The HoganWillig law firm is representing about 700 health care workers in a lawsuit challenging the state's mandate.

Stephanie Allen, a certified surgical technologist at Kaleida who is part of the lawsuit, said she has an approved religious exemption and can continue working at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, but must wear an N95 mask on the job.

"I think with them not offering any type of alternatives to us, it's going to cripple the health care system even more than it already is. We're already having trouble staffing. In my unit alone, we're down seven nurses."

Allen said if the religious exemption for health care workers is ultimately removed, she will choose losing her job over getting vaccinated. 

Around midday Monday, there were no lines at the Covid-19 vaccine center inside ECMC, with just a few patients gathered for their first or second shots.

Shonda Cleckley, a registered nurse at ECMC for 22 years, got the two-dose Pfizer vaccine in the spring, seeing vaccination as the way to protect her patients, co-workers and family.

“When you’re born, you have a vaccination schedule,” said Cleckley, a 46-year-old Williamsville resident. “I believe in science, and I believe it works, so that’s why I took it.”

Standing firm

In remarks on Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul held firm on the mandate and urged unvaccinated health care workers to get inoculated.

Hochul reiterated her plan to sign an executive order that would give her the power to address staffing shortages where needed, such as deploying medically trained National Guard personnel or using retired medical professionals to fill gaps.

But Hochul said that was not her first preference: "My desire is to have the people who've been out there continue to work in their jobs, working in them safely."

Major health care trade groups Monday said it was too early to determine the full impact of the vaccine mandate.

Janae Quackenbush, a spokesperson for the Healthcare Association of New York State, whose members include hospitals across the state, said the organization does not have real-time data about vaccination rates among health workers at New York facilities.

But she said that hospitals were vaccinating staff over the weekend and throughout the day on Monday.

“What we can say at this time is the mandate is achieving its aim of getting health care workers vaccinated; vaccines have been going and are going to go in arms," Quackenbush said.

Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, noted its board of governors last week reaffirmed that the state “should stay the course” with its vaccine mandate for health workers and the Monday deadline.

“The mandate is the best way to ensure the safest possible patient care environment and protect the public’s health," Raske said. "We implore the remaining unvaccinated health care workers to get their first dose today. We want you to stay in health care services."

A major trade group for nursing homes and assisted living facilities said Monday that facilities have been working around the clock to encourage vaccinations among staff, but hospitals, nursing homes and the broader community is not at 100% vaccination levels.

“As such, nursing homes throughout New York are concerned that the current health care staffing crisis will be exacerbated without a testing option for unvaccinated staff to continue to provide resident care on the front lines," said Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association and the New York State Center for Assisted Living.

“Additionally, the current long-term care staffing crisis is negatively impacting the ability of many nursing homes to receive new residents from hospitals and the community, resulting in a delay of individuals receiving essential care," he added.

News staff reporter Jonathan Harris contributed to this report.