As the Oct. 1 vaccination deadline approaches as mandated by Gov. Daniel McKee, there have been worries over staff leaving their positions because of the requirement. As of Sept. 13, 87 percent of healthcare workers in Rhode Island had been inoculated with at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, Lynn Blais, RN, the president of New England union United Nurses and Allied Professionals, released a statement that blames hospital management, not unvaccinated healthcare workers, for the looming shortages.
“The root cause of the staffing shortage is simple — hospital management putting profits before patient care,” Ms. Blais said in a statement.
She emphasised the union’s support for the mandate, saying, “We support this mandate because this is a public health issue and Rhode Islanders who need healthcare services should expect to be safe in health facilities”.
“We want to be clear — staffing shortages in the healthcare field, especially among nurses, have been a problem that began long before this pandemic started” said Ms. Blais, as reported by golocalprov.com.
“It is not the job of nurses and health professionals to properly staff hospitals – it’s our job to provide quality care for our patients. Staffing is the job of hospital administrators ” she said as reported by The Providence Journal.
According to their website, UNAP represents approximately 7,000 nurses and medical professionals across Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont.
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