Rochester area preparing for healthcare staffing shortages

Rochester, New York — How the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees will impact health systems when the mandate goes into effect on Monday?

According to Dr. Michael Mendoza, commissioner of public health for Monroe County, unvaccinated healthcare workers are in the minority, but he’s pleading for them to think about their decision.

“I would love to see people who are on the fence in healthcare who will not get vaccinated, to dig deep and think about they entered the profession in the first place,” said Mendoza. “Because we’re here to help our patients and help our community and this is an opportunity like no other where we can all step up and speak with a unified voice that we care about Monroe County and we care about our patients.”

Health care workers by Monday need to either show their vaccine card or have an exemption request in place to continue working.

More than 200 workers at URMC and several hundred more at Rochester Regional Health have been granted exemptions.

According to URMC, it is finding accommodations for those employees to make sure it is safe for them to work in the hospital.

Except already scheduled appointments have not been impacted, Strong Memorial Hospital is pausing the scheduling of elective surgeries for two weeks starting Monday.

The Farmington and Spencerport urgent cares are closing to redeploy staff to handle the shortage. And 11 URMC blood labs will also be temporarily closed.

Rochester General Hospital will continue elective surgeries but is saying appointments may have to be rescheduled.

According to UR Medicine, 99% of professional medical staff and 91% of all employees are partially or fully vaccinated.

URMC says retirements and medical workers changing professions are also playing a role as well in impacting these decisions.