91% of staff are currently vaccinated
With the COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline looming, the Brooks-TLC Hospital System is preparing for the worst but hoping for the best with regard to the mandate’s impact to System operations.
A 9% hospital-wide staff loss is anticipated Monday, with 51 of the 573 Brooks-TLC workforce (to include employees, medical staff, Advanced Practice Providers, contracted staff) opting to remain unvaccinated.
“We are getting there,” said Mary LaRowe, president and CEO of Brooks-TLC, “But the nine-percent not vaccinated is still nine-percent of our workforce. And, while that number is on par with what other Western New York hospitals face, in a rural healthcare system the size of ours, the loss challenges our operations.”
According to Ken Morris, Brooks-TLC chief operations officer, the System was already facing a staffing shortage in support departments and the Obstetrics Clinical Unit (OB). With the new wave of COVID, there was no employee the System could afford to lose.
“The plan we have in place is fluid,” Morris said, “and appropriate actions will occur when the full impact becomes known Monday. We are certainly grateful to and appreciative for the staff who are compliant and will remain with us.”
Brooks-TLC remains committed to providing quality and compassionate healthcare in the communities it serves.
