Connie Goddard found out she was no longer employed by MercyOne North Iowa by text message and voicemail.
It was Oct. 1, two weeks after the deadline MercyOne had imposed on its employees to either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or get an exemption.
LPN WITH COVID-19
Goddard has been a licensed practical nurse for 22 years, several of those spent working in public health, most notably overseeing immunization clinics in Floyd County, where she farms with her husband.
That's important to note, as Goddard says she is not anti-immunization.
Goddard was with MercyOne for just under five years, working in the Short Stay Evaluation Area on 4E. She worked 11 a.m.-11 p.m. and did discharges and admissions. She became certified to administer an IV - the ability to put in an intravenous needle to provide a patient with fluids or medicines. Her performance reviews were excellent.
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"The only negative thing they said was that I sometimes cared too much," Goddard said. "I got too involved with the patients."
The requirement includes: colleagues, physicians and providers.
She was part of a group that was going to pilot a new form of treatment for patients – teams that would be made up of an RN, LPN and CNA and together care for six patients per team.
"I really felt like I was on the ground floor of something great," Goddard said.
COVID STRIKES
Then, the ground fell out beneath her. Her daughter was diagnosed with a rare, fatal form of lymphoma. Goddard knew she needed to care for her daughter, so she requested to move to what MercyOne calls "baylor" shifts, overnights on the weekends. She spent her weekdays caring for her daughter.
Then, the pandemic hit. The pilot project for care teams fell apart, a victim of long days of work with a skeletal staff and overwhelming patient numbers.
"There were nights where you'd have to split the hall [with another nurse], and each of you would have 16 patients," Goddard said. "Twelve is doable, 18 is scary."
Goddard rotated in and out of the COVID ward. She stayed on baylor shifts so she could care for her grandsons after her daughter died.
In late February, she was off two weeks after being diagnosed with COVID. She was asymptomatic. She also felt she was immune, so when in July she received an email from MercyOne saying she had to provide proof of vaccination against COVID, obtain an exemption or face termination by Sept. 18, she figured she was covered.
And she had concerns about the vaccine. It was approved too quickly, seemed erratic in its ability to protect people and had side effects she said she personally witnessed that put people in the hospital. Her son works for Pfizer, one of the companies that makes a vaccine, and he too, has concerns.
"I also believe in personal choice," she said.
A second email that went out early in the fall emphasized MercyOne's commitment to making sure all its employees were vaccinated or had a good reason not to be. Being immune by having already had the virus was not one of those reasons.
"I couldn't understand it – why weren't they considering natural immunity as a medical excuse," Goddard said.
Her colleagues on the baylor shift were all getting religious exemptions – and sharing notes about exactly what to put on the application to make sure it was approved.
"But I couldn't do that. I didn't think it was right to use my faith as an excuse when it wasn't really the reason," she said.
END OF EMPLOYMENT
She prepared to receive a memo telling her that she would be terminated on Sept. 18, but that day came and went and the memo never showed up. She asked her supervisor about it and was told there was a 45-day "grace period" for people who hadn't asked for an exemption or had been immunized to change their mind. Her supervisor said she'd be getting a letter about it.
But Goddard never did. Instead, as she got ready for work on Oct. 1, first she got a text and then a voicemail from her supervisor, with language Goddard didn't quite understand.
"They didn't say I was fired," she said. "They said it was a workforce reduction due to my 'personal decision.'"
MercyOne never sent a letter about a grace period or anything else, Goddard said. And she began to better understand the strange language her supervisor used when she applied for unemployment.
Nursing students will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine before any hands-on experience at MercyOne.
MercyOne told the state Department of Workforce development that Goddard quit based on a personal choice regarding the vaccine. Goddard is appealing.
MercyOne issued the following statement from MercyOne North Iowa President Rod Schlader in response to a request for the number of staff who were no longer with the hospital because of the vaccination requirement:
"Regrettably, a few members of our team have chosen to leave the organization. We’re extremely grateful for their service and respect their decision. By requiring the COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, just as we do with the flu vaccine, MercyOne joins health systems and associations across the country in supporting vaccination for health care workers in an effort to continue protecting our patients, staff and communities from this dangerous disease. At present date, 99% of our workforce at MercyOne North Iowa have met the requirement."
In October, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law that was designed to support people like Goddard. Reynolds has said “no Iowan should be forced to lose their job or livelihood over the COVID-19 vaccine."
One element of the new law is intended to protect unvaccinated workers from being fired by allowing them to seek medical and religious exemptions from any vaccine mandate imposed by their employer.
The second element of the law states that an individual who is discharged from employment for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination “shall not be disqualified for (unemployment) benefits on account of such discharge.”
This week, a state judge ruled a Mason City nurse aide who was fired for refusing to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 is not entitled to collect unemployment benefits in Iowa, according to a story filed by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Although the decision on unemployment was made Tuesday, the worker was fired in July, long before the new law took effect.
State records show that Kathy L. Kennedy was fired from Mason City’s Good Shepherd Geriatric Center in July. She had worked at the center for 15 years as a certified nurse aide.
According to the state records, Good Shepherd did not require its workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 but did require that unvaccinated workers be tested occasionally before reporting for work. Kennedy was aware of the policy and reportedly had been tested twice over the course of 18 months.
On July 12, she was fired after allegedly refusing to be tested again, although she remained unvaccinated.
Administrative Law Judge Darrin Hamilton on Tuesday denied Kennedy’s request for unemployment benefits, pointing out that “this matter is a company rule. It is also a federal mandate upon the employer that, should the employer violate by not testing their non-vaccinated employees, significant financial penalties could be imposed on the employer. Furthermore, the rule is an attempt to stop employees who test positive for COVID-19 from working and thereby exposing co-workers and the clients to COVID-19.”
Hamilton’s ruling makes no reference to the new law, House File 902, dealing with unvaccinated workers.