Worker vaccinations surge at some Hudson Valley nursing homes as state deadline nears

By the time the latest COVID-19 wave began in July, only about 62% of workers at Schervier Pavilion in Warwick had gotten inoculated against a virus that had claimed the lives of 27 residents at their 120-bed nursing home.

But a flood of co-workers got their shots as a state-imposed deadline to be vaccinated or lose their jobs approached.

As of Wednesday, 90% of Schervier workers were fully vaccinated or had gotten the first of two doses, well before the Sept. 27 deadline for all hospital and nursing home workers to have gotten at least their first shots, according to state data. That percentage had climbed by 6 points from 84% in just the last eight days.

New York's vaccination mandate for health care workers is now in limbo due to a federal lawsuit in opposition and a judge's temporary order to block the requirement. But the state's tracking of staff vaccinations show some nursing homes in the mid-Hudson Valley already have made huge strides in recent weeks after the mandate was issued.

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Orange County's largest nursing home, the 360-bed Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation in Goshen, had reported as of June 30 that 61% of its workers had gotten one or both COVID vaccine shots. As of Wednesday, the county-owned facility had hit the 79% mark, an 18-point swing. Valley View's count also had risen by 6 points in just eight days.

An even bigger jump occurred at the New Paltz Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing.

Only 49% of workers at that 77-bed home had been vaccinated as of June 30. By Wednesday, 82% had gotten at least their first shot – a 20-point leap from the 62% mark the New Paltz Center had reached by Sept. 7.

A spokesman for the New Paltz home said it made those gains strictly through persuasion, not incentives. He said the facility and its parent company had encouraged workers to get shots since they became available in January, and had used regional educators to explain to the undecided that "the benefits vastly outweigh the risks when it comes to vaccinating."

"The company feels that educating the staff about COVID-19 vaccines carries the most weight in terms of the staff who are mostly 50-50 undecided about whether or not to take the vaccine, more so than being offered an incentive," spokesman Jeff Jacomowitz said.

Nursing home residents and workers were among the first to be offered the vaccine in New York because of the devastating toll the pandemic took on the vulnerable residents of those facilities. As of February, some 13,000 nursing home residents statewide – 393 in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties alone – had succumbed to the virus, according to state data.

Most residents of those facilities are now vaccinated. But administrators and state officials have pushed for workers to get the shots as well for their own protection and because of the risk they could inadvertently infect the elderly and frail population in their care.

Other Hudson Valley nursing homes have made rapid progress as the deadline neared.

The share of workers at Sapphire Nursing and Rehabilitation at Goshen who have gotten at least one shot has jumped to 81% from 59% since June 30. The Sapphire home in Wappingers Falls climbed to 89% from 46% in that time. The Sullivan County-owned Care Center at Sunset Lake rose to 72% from 56%.

Yet some facilities lag far behind, in spite of the mandate. As of Wednesday, only 56% of workers at the Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center had gotten one or both shots. That was only slightly higher than the 53% mark it had reached by June 30.

Overall, 83% of workers and 90% of residents at the 88 nursing homes in the mid Hudson Valley are fully vaccinated or have had their first shot, according to the Department of Health. Among the seven counties in the region, the percentages of vaccinated workers ranged from 86% in Westchester to 77% in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan.

cmckenna@th-record.com