Choices and responsibility

To the Editor:

A recent letter from an employee of a local health care facility, who will be laid off soon if they are not vaccinated, confused and disheartened me.

Good parenting teaches that the freedom of our choices comes with the responsibility to accept the consequences of those choices. The letter writer speaks of working in the fray during the beginning of the pandemic because of duty, but drops the ball now, instead choosing to become a likely vector to spread this highly contagious and dangerous virus to co-workers, patients, and the community, straining hospital resources and manpower to the bursting point. The expense of this care is spread amongst the rest of us that made different choices.

I, too, have worked in the fray throughout the pandemic. At one point, I had to manage a COVID unit in addition to my regular unit of 30 or so patients, many of whom have dementia and had no idea what was going on. The physical, emotional and psychological toll of trying to manage that in a competent and compassionate way was immense. People think I'm joking when I say I still have PTSD from the experience. I am not.

Currently, our facility offers 80 hours COVID pay if a staff member tests positive; statistically, this is most likely the unvaccinated. Thus, they are paid to be in the comfort and safety of their homes after their choice not to vaccinate, and their co-workers must work short-staffed, wearing N95s, and keep testing until all are clear, because of that same choice. This incentivizes risky behavior and penalizes those who try to make responsible choices that decrease the risk of spread. Wrong message.

I hope the writer reflects on duty again, and chooses to minimize the chance of being a vector for the virus to proliferate and mutate in our community, by becoming vaccinated.

Stefani Reichle

Jamestown