GREENSBURG, Ind. — The deadline for the federal vaccine mandate is looming for millions of businesses and health care facilities.
Last week, the Biden administration announced two mandates. One is for businesses with 100 or more employees and the other is for health care centers that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. They both require workers to get vaccinated by Jan. 4.
After the announcement, many states pushed back, including Indiana.
Despite some vaccination hesitation, a Greensburg retirement center already made it work after implementing their own mandate months ago.
Staff members at Morning Breeze Retirement Community and Healthcare Center got vaccinated as early as December 2020. Executive Director Holly Witkamper said in August, 78% of her staff was fully vaccinated.
"My director of nursing and I talked about it and decided, 'This is the time. We are 78% fully vaccinated. Let's set a date,'" Witkamper said.
They required their 80-member team to get the first shot by Sept. 10 and their second shot by Oct. 14.
"The fear is gone. We are there. We know where we are at and that changed the overall feeling in the building," Witkamper said.
Now, two months later, 98% of the team is fully vaccinated. Witkamper said they did lose a few people after the mandate but their reason for leaving was not clear.
"We paid attention to open positions and our numbers prior to mandating with the fear that we could have some issues, but there wasn't. Everybody got behind us and did what we needed to do," she said.
Morning Breeze is now ahead of the curve as other facilities are trying to figure out how to enforce the federal mandate without losing employees since many centers are short-staffed.
Witkamper said for her team, one-on-one conversations made the biggest difference.
"Also, the personal relationship with our team members. We are small. We are a family and that gave us the opportunity to know why someone was hesitant and be able to talk it through," she said.
The federal mandate for health care workers still needs to jump through some hoops with pushback from several states, including Indiana.
On Friday, the attorney general announced a lawsuit against the requirements, which was endorsed by the Governor. It's expected to be filed soon.
The other federal mandate applies to private companies with 100 or more workers. Employees will need to get vaccinated by Jan. 4 or get tested weekly.
A federal appeals court ordered a temporary halt on the mandate. The White House is instructing businesses to move forward with the requirements despite the order.