Vaccine mandates affect short-staffed nursing homes

Still, more than a quarter of nursing home workers nationwide were not vaccinated as of mid-October, according to AARP’s analysis. And recently, even as many mandates took effect, COVID-19

cases and deaths in nursing homes rose to their highest levels nationally since last winter’s peaks. While the death rate was only around one-tenth of what it was last winter, the 2,000

COVID-19 deaths that occurred between mid-September and mid-October represent a sixfold increase since early summer. “It may seem low compared to the course of the pandemic” says AARP’s Ari

Houser, a senior methods adviser and coauthor of AARP’s analysis, “but more than 2,000 [residents] dying from COVID in just one month is not a small number.” LOSING STAFF, BUT NO REGRETS

Many nursing homes that adopted COVID-19 vaccine requirements are now reaping the rewards. They’ve lost workers, but their operators have no regrets. The Jewish Home Family, a nonprofit

long-term care provider with two campuses in New Jersey, is celebrating having more than 99 percent of its workforce fully vaccinated after mandating shots in summer. More than 99 percent of

residents are also fully vaccinated. Since the July deadline, there have been no COVID-19 infections among residents and just one breakthrough case among workers. Residents at the Jewish

Home Family celebrate receiving their COVID-19 vaccines. More than 99 percent of both residents and staff are now fully vaccinated against the virus after the long-term care provider adopted

a staff mandate. Jewish Home Family Infection control protocols, such as social distancing and masking, are still in place, but “life looks pretty normal around here,” says Carol Silver

Elliott, the Jewish Home Family’s president and chief executive officer. Visitation, communal dining and a full calendar of activities, entertainment and exercise have all returned. “I’m

even teaching them yoga twice a month,” she says. “We’re doing it all.” While the company lost five of its 530 employees due to the requirement, “it’s a small price to pay for a real sense

of safety,” says Silver Elliott. “We prayed for a vaccine for months and months and months. So to not [mandate] would be criminal — it’s putting people’s lives at risk, and we exist to care

for vulnerable elderly. We exist to protect them.” Other long-term care providers that instituted vaccination mandates early on have also lost staff. Atria Senior Living, a chain operating

more than 400 long-term care communities across the U.S. and Canada, and Juniper Communities, which operates about 20 facilities across four states, lost roughly 5 and 2 percent of

their workforces, respectfully, according to media outlet McKnight’s Senior Living. But Silverado, a memory care provider operating around 20 facilities across six states, lost no staff and

instead attracted new applicants. And Aegis Living, a long-term care provider operating more than 40 assisted living, memory care and respite care communities in Washington, California and

Nevada, is marketing its high staff vaccination rate to recruit new staff and residents. “Where are you going to go where you’re going to see higher than 98 percent of people vaccinated?”

says Dwayne J. Clark, founder and chief executive officer. “This feels like one of the safest places on the planet.” Workers at Aegis Living Aptos, a long-term care facility in California,

pose as Rosie the Riveter after receiving their COVID-19 vaccines. Aegis lost around two percent of its workforce for adopting a vaccine mandate for staff. Aegis Living But that comes after

Clark let go of almost 100 staffers who failed to meet the company’s July vaccination deadline. “That was painful. … We couldn’t afford to lose 97 people,” he says, noting that some

positions were empty even before the vaccination requirement kicked in. “I would say we’re now down seven or eight staff in every building.” Aegis is reluctantly enlisting temporary workers

from staffing agencies, who are often more expensive and provide lower-quality care because they aren’t as familiar with a facility’s procedures and residents. Nearly 70 percent of nursing

homes and 40 percent of assisted living facilities are doing the same, according to AHCA/NCAL’s survey. But Clark doesn’t regret requiring the shots. “Our cases have plummeted,” he says. “We

have some breakthrough cases, but no one is in the hospital, no one is seriously ill, compared to dozens before,” he says. “It’s a game changer.” Edgewater West Des Moines, a long-term

care community in Iowa, waited until 90 percent of its workforce was inoculated before introducing a requirement in August that gave workers until November to get fully vaccinated. Doing so

gave leadership two months to “move six or seven people over that finish line,” says executive director Glen Lewis, describing vaccine-hesitant workers. In the end — after lots of

one-on-one vaccine education, a rewards raffle and round-the-clock access to the shots — Edgewater lost no workers; all were compliant by November. Lewis and other long-term care operators

say that the recent flurry of federal, state and industry mandates that cover all health care workers, not just long-term care workers, have helped. They’ve “really leveled the playing

field,” says Vitale-Aussem of Christian Living Communities in Colorado, where the state required all employees in licensed health care settings to be vaccinated by Oct. 31. “When it’s just

certain organizations requiring it, people leave and go to a place where they don’t,” she says. With widespread mandates, unvaccinated health care workers are “starting to see that their

employment options are going to be limited.” Some operators, like Aegis, are even starting to circle back to employees they let go to see if they’ve reconsidered. “I don’t think it’s a big

number,” says Clark, “but some have come back.”