By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Chuck Welch with Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System notes that though COVID-19 isn't the threat it once was for the vaccinated, it hasn't gone away.
"As we saw in the first and second surges, people tend to relax," Welch said. "Maybe they stopped getting vaccinated. They stopped wearing their masks and hand washing and then the numbers go back up. I think it's a reminder that COVID-19 is going to be an ever present threat. We just cannot let our guard down until we hit that critical mass where people have either been infected or are vaccinated."
Even so, the hospital is counting on its employees to make their own choices regarding vaccination and if they can't be vaccinated, that employees will follow the infection control protocols as they always do, until there is a final decision on the federal mandates that have been proposed.
"We will be federally compliant, but we are also understanding that many folks, for whatever reason, cannot follow the mandate, whether it be religious or physical," Welch said. "We love and take care of our employees first, but we will do everything we can do to be in compliance without violating anybody's inability to get the vaccine."
In fact, there has been some additional help in nursing because the hospital is not mandating the COVID-19 vaccine at this point, and did not do so prior to the federal mandates that are still in legal question, and would not plan to unless those mandates are upheld.
"These folks, by and large, are experts at keeping themselves and our patients safe by wearing masks, they wash their hands, I mean these are things they do every day," Welch said. "We have yet to mandate any sort of vaccination policy and, because of that, we've had several employees, nurses especially, migrate to Hutchinson Regional."
Hutchinson Regional still needs nurses, though. At this point, they can only staff about 80 beds, though the hospital is licensed for 190 beds. Welch said in the coming months the hospital would continue to seek out multiple avenues to increase patient capacity.