A rigid education campaign and counselling sessions are being credited with the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital achieving full inoculation of its staff and management against COVID-19.
Speaking at a simple ceremony for the hospital’s ISO 9001 certification, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Enoch Gaskin said education played a major part in the achievement of staff being fully vaccinated.
He pointed out that while there was hesitancy from staff members, the hospital was able to speak with those who had concerns and provided answers and guidance to help them decide.
The reality, he said, is people seem to be attracted to all the negatives even though the benefits are hitting them in their faces and it is against this background that a rigid educational campaign was needed.
“Everything takes organised work. From the commencement of the pandemic, this institution took a leadership role by educating our staff, [and] implementing systems to protect staff and clients…,” he said.
According to Gaskin, from the inception of the arrival of vaccines the hospital commenced another round of educational programming, utilising information from the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health to keep its staff abreast.
“When the vaccines came, we were a little forward, informing them that it will become mandatory even before anything… We were being honest with our staff. We utilized all the resources that were available at St. Joseph to educate our staff…,” the CEO explained.
He also stated that the hospital also sent out a memo to staff about the need to be vaccinated before a certain date.
Education and support to staff, the CEO said, is how the hospital was able to achieve the goal despite hesitation from staff in the initial stages.
“Hesitancy… yes but we provided medical support and counselling… whatever was your peculiar stance, there was a person to help you,” he stated before noting that family and relatives of the staff were also able to access the service.
The hospital said that it is the only private medical facility in the country with a vaccination site in the hospital compound that is accessible to the public free of charge.
It is urging persons to visit the site and use the opportunity to get vaccinated.
