SMH moving forward amid vaccine mandate

Staff at Sheridan Memorial Hospital have endured the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic, long hours, the loss of life and the spikes of the virus have exhausted medical professionals over the course of the last two years. 

In January, The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. But the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services required any medical and long term care facility to mandate vaccinations against the COVID-19 virus for all of their staff or lose those federal funds. 

Amid the challenge of staff exhaustion, the temptations of salary and travel from traveling nurse services, these mandates placed another hurdle in the way for SMH leadership to retain quality healthcare professionals. 

Staff at SMH are required to be vaccinated by March 15. During a SMH leadership meeting, SMH Chief Executive Officer Mike McCafferty said so far, the hospital has lost less than 10 staff members due to the mandates. 

McCafferty said the majority of staff are vaccinated or currently in the process of finalizing exemptions to the mandate. 

McCafferty said the hospital continues to hire and utilize outside help, such as the Wyoming Army National Guard when available. But the process developed to allow exemptions and encourage vaccinations has moved the hospital forward.