NCH employee vaccine policy deadline is up; hundreds face resignation

NCH Healthcare System employees who didn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine will no longer have a job at the end of the day Thursday. That will amount to hundreds of employees in the hospital system no longer working there.

At NCH, 93% of the roughly 5,000 employees are saying yes to the mandate. They got the shot and will stay on the job. That final 7% — some 300-plus workers — were on deadline to become fully vaccinated. If they don’t, they will be out of a job Friday, NCH says.

With a prick in the arm and a round of applause, respiratory therapist Lydna Pike became the first NCH employee to get vaccinated at in December 2020.

“And I feel hopeful because finally there is strong ammunition against this virus,” Pike told WINK News last year.

Fast forward to July 2021, NCH announced the hospital system would require all new hires be vaccinated.

Dr. David Agus, an American physician, liked the decision.

“Doctors and nurses need to be vaccinated, or they can bring harm to people,” Agus told CBS News.

That was July 22 when NCH was treating 68 COVID-19 patients. But eight days and 30 new patients later, NCH got tougher on its staff to prevent spread. Management announced its mandate that all employees be fully vaccinated. Despite protests, the hospital stood firm.

“You want people to feel at ease in your hospital,” NCH COO Jon Kling told WINK News in July 2020. “Yes, that’s the most important for the decision. It’s our duty to make sure our patients feel comfortable, safe coming here for their health care needs and not to ignore them more importantly.”

The cases kept rising, hitting a peak of 230 COVID-19 patients in August. The deadline for all NCH workers is here

We followed up with Pike in August about work conditions.

“It is also somewhat frustrating when we try to fight this virus, there are tools available out there, like the vaccines, and we see so many patients come through the doors who did not get the vaccine,” Pike said.

Friday, NCH says the only people walking through the door at its hospital locations who are not vaccinated will be patients.

Some employees asked for medical and religious exemptions per the terms of the vaccine policy, but they say NCH did not automatically approve them.

We asked NCH a number of times Thursday to talk about the day’s deadline, but a spokesman declined.