Hospital Conglomerate in 22 States Complains Via Local News of Staff Shortage While Also Threatening to Fire Unvaccinated Staff Who Don’t Qualify for Exemption

On Friday, a local Boise, Idaho news station called KBOI, released a story on one of the major local hospitals called Saint Alphonsus. They have multiple locations throughout the region, which many call the Treasure Valley. The report talks about how the hospital has a thin staff “As the COVID wave rolls on”.

The article points to the backlog of surgery from earlier in the year as well as staff out sick with COVID-19, as the main factors stressing the hospital.

There seems to be concern over a staff shortage, which seems odd as Saint Alphonsus Health System as well as Saint Luke’s Health System and Primary Health Group, three of the large providers in the Treasure Valley, made national news by announcing they would be requiring staff to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be fired if they don’t get an exemption they can apply for.

In other words, an already short-staffed hospital system is threatening to fire a good chunk of its staff for not being vaccinated, which could create an even larger shortage. KTVB reported on the Saint Alphonsus deadline:

“The policy requires all “colleagues, clinical staff, contractors, and those conducting business in its health care facilities” to submit proof of full vaccination by  Sep. 21, 2021.”

Saint Alphonsus is part of a Catholic Conglomerate, Trinity Health a Michigan-based health organization. Trinity Health announced they would mandate the vaccine for all of its employees which includes hospital systems in 22 states with approximately 177,000 employees.

Many local hospital employees and local residents peacefully protested this at various hospital locations on more than one occasion, showing that many disagreed with the policy.

The deadline is not here yet, and many were told they could apply for exemptions for medical or religious reasons, but there was no guarantee their applications would be approved. If they didn’t get exemptions or the vaccine, they will be fired. Many may have already quit due to this policy.

Many others are uncertain of what they will do. Although the majority of local hospital staff probably already has been vaccinated, the minority still potentially makes up a good amount of people.

According to KBOI, Saint Alphonsus won’t disclose the percentage of their employees that have been vaccinated, or how many are out sick due to Covid-19. Many have asked them to rescind their policy of firing staff that doesn’t get vaccinated. Another local hospital, West Valley Medical Center, in nearby Caldwell, also in the Treasure Valley, has a higher available percentage of beds compared to bigger hospitals and does not make the vaccine mandatory for their employees, according to a phone call we made to them. Many of their staff have likely been vaccinated on their own accord.

Although it may cut down on the spreading of the Covid-19 virus, being fully vaccinated doesn’t guarantee you won’t spread the virus. Regardless of this, the unvaccinated staff of many hospitals who don’t want to get vaccinated has been put between a rock and hard place. Perhaps the hospital system doesn’t agree with their reason for wanting to be exempt for medical or religious reasons.

The local news stations rarely if ever mention that if there is ever an issue with the three largest hospital/medical corporations in the Treasure Valley, they have other options. This also comes as the news is also reporting possible ICU bed shortages. This is, in part, due to a rise in Covid-19 patients, although the majority of the people in the beds at the local hospitals are not there for Covid-19. The local hospitals and Republican Governor Brad Little are blaming the hospital bed shortage on unvaccinated people in the general population and are asking everyone who can, to get a vaccine.

Many locals have told us they’ve been considering switching from Saint Alphonsus or Saint Luke’s, the two largest hospital systems in the Boise area, to one of the smaller hospitals such as West Valley Medical Center.

Regardless of how you feel about the vaccine, in our view, firing staff is not going to help cut down on much Covid-19 spread and is definitely not going to help hospitals already in a staffing crunch. The hospitals want to shield themselves from liability by having all their staff vaccinated, and we understand that. But are they liable if they run out of staff to take care of patients because they fired too many employees? How many other metro areas are having the same crisis?

We take Covid-19 seriously, and you should consult your doctor about how to handle your risk, and take all necessary precautions. But these large business decisions by national corporations affect local communities and take away their ability to make decisions for themselves.

Editors note: we feel that all the local staff of hospitals in all regions take local concerns into consideration. Without nurses, doctors, and others, we would not have anyone to take care of us when we are at our worst. This story to us seems like another corporation trying to make the local heroes take the heat for a decision they had no control over. We respect and honor all the medical heroes out there saving lives, despite potential differing viewpoints.