Officials with UR Medicine and Thompson Health in Canandaigua say the staffing shortage is serious stuff.
“This isn’t sustainable over the long-term. We need help,” Thompson Health CEO Michael Stapleton told RochesterFirst.com. It’s the latest message from healthcare officials, as they try to maintain operation after the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate went into effect in late-September.
The biggest issue is in the emergency department.
Among the issues – Stapleton says COVID-19 is still a challenge, as well as patients who put off care during the pandemic. There’s also a lack of nursing home beds throughout the region.
“There’s no hospital in this community that could afford to lose more people, whether you’re talking about a hospital or a nursing home,” Stapleton added.
He said earlier in the fall that there were already hundreds of openings at Thompson Health in Canandaigua – even before the COVID-19 vaccine mandate took effect.
As far as the vaccine is concerned – Stapleton is more worried about getting patients vaccinated. “The vast majority– the very strong majority of patients in our hospitals right now with COVID are unvaccinated,” Stapleton added.
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