Broadlawns says 100% of employees compliant on vaccine requirement
***This story corrects a previous version which stated 100% of employees were fully vaccinated. The hospital clarified that 100% are compliant with the current requirement, but not necessarily fully vaccinated. Staff have until Nov. 1 to be fully vaccinated or have an approved accommodation.
With a little more than a week before a Nov. 1 vaccination mandate, 100% of employees at Broadlawns Medical Center are compliant with the current requirement, the hospital said.
Compliance, according to the hospital, was for staff to have received at least one vaccine dose by Oct. 1 or have an approved exemption. The next benchmark is to be fully vaccinated on Nov. 1.
At present, 96% of employees received a vaccine, with another 4% having received accommodations.
Broadlawns, UnityPoint and MercyOne all announced in early August they would enforce a vaccine requirement for all employees.
At the time, Broadlawns reported 76% of its employees were fully vaccinated. That figure was actually higher than the average for county hospitals across the country.
But some joined protests on behalf of medical workers held outside all three metro hospital systems.
In addition, some raised concerns about the requirement exacerbating existing staffing shortages by virtue of terminations or employees quitting before the deadline.
At Broadlawns, five employees decided to leave, according to the hospital.
"The fact that they have already utilized incentives and educational campaigns and whatever other approaches they've used to help their employees to really come on board is really quite remarkable," said Denise Hill, an associate professor at Drake University. "There aren't a lot of places around the country that can say that."
MercyOne reported more than 88% of its employees are vaccinated. UnityPoint declined to provide figures until after the Nov. 1 deadline.