2 agencies added to vaccine order
Psychiatric, OPWDD specialty hospital staff must get at least one dose by Nov. 1
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s vaccination mandate for health care workers will get broader, though group home employees will remain outside its requirements — at least for now.
The new vaccination schedule mandates workers at psychiatric hospitals run by the state Office of Mental Health and certified “speciality” hospitals run by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities must receive at least one shot by Nov. 1, Hochul said Tuesday. The governor has been forceful in seeking to make the mandate as broad as possible, but has received criticism regarding why certain workers were not initially covered.
“I just have to be clear-eyed and laser-focused on the priorities that I must have as the governor of this state, which is to protect people’s health,” Hochul told reporters in the Capitol’s Red Room.
Between Oct. 12 and Nov. 1, this specific set of unvaccinated OMH and OPWDD workers will face weekly testing for COVID -19.
Despite the more restrictive measures, Hochul has kept vaccination mandates out of group homes, which house some of the state’s most vulnerable. One potential reason: These facilities face particular staffing shortages in a wider field that is known to be chronically understaffed.
Hochul expects to “continue expanding the vaccine requirement into the human service and mental hygiene care settings in the coming weeks, while also taking necessary steps to ensure staffing levels continue to be appropriate across those service systems,” according to a release from her office.
Like group home workers, prison employees in the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision continue to have the option to subject themselves to weekly testing, which is typically paid for by the state.
The lone type of facility under OPWDD’S guidance where workers will need to be vaccinated are certified speciality hospitals. The other types of facilities the agency runs are developmental centers, small residential units, intermediate care facilities, community residences and “individualized residential alternatives.” During the pandemic, the state recorded 585 COVID -19 deaths of
residents of these facilities and 40 staff deaths, OPWDD said. More than 20,000 people — staff and residents — in those facilities have tested positive for the virus.
From Sept. 23 to 29, the most recent full week of data from OPWDD, there were 71 new cases reported among residents and 137 among staff.
Staffing shortages in group homes, where salaries and wages are typically low compared to the rest of the field, is an issue some lawmakers have been passionate about for years.
Assemblymember Thomas J. Abinanti, a Westchester Democrat who is the chair of the chamber’s Committee on People with Disabilities, fought for fairer wages during the most recent budget cycle. He said the state “is at fault for the low pay of direct health care and mental health care support professionals. We predicted that we were going to be in the dire straits that we are in now.”
He hopes to see further funding for group home workers and those in related fields through an increase in the state’s Medicaid minimum wage, and by finding creative ways to increase the worker pool — such as special visa programs, decreasing requirements to get into the field and supporting educational opportunities.
Last month, the governor discussed bringing in National Guard members, travel nurses and international health care workers to fill any potential gap in services prompted by the vaccine mandate on hospitals and nursing homes, which fall under the Department of Health’s oversight. It is unclear if the state has had to tap those resources, or if they would be an option for facilities like group homes.