U-M Health System requires masks for certain employees who declined flu vaccine; some St. Joe workers fired

Meanwhile, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Superior Township, several employees who refused vaccines have lost their jobs. All workers were given the choice to receive free flu and pertussis vaccinations by Jan. 10 or face unemployment. Officials said the final numbers aren’t known, but fewer than 25 individuals were fired for refusing to receive one or both vaccines.

Mandatory vaccine programs like those at St. Joe and UMHS are a growing trend nationwide.

Compliance with the vaccine policy at St. Joseph Mercy hospitals was high — 98.3 percent of about 7,010 employees at the health system’s Ann Arbor, Saline and Livingston locations, as well as the Brighton and Canton outpatient facilities, got the vaccines. officials said. The policy went into effect in November.

Typically, only about half of St. Joseph employees got a flu shot when an immunization program was voluntary — despite memos, free vaccination clinics and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation, said Lakshmi Halasyamani, vice president for quality and systems improvement.

Free to employees, vaccines cost St. Joseph Mercy Health System $350,000 this year, compared to $67,000 last year, said Kevin DiCola, communications manager for the health system. Less than 2 percent of employees filled out forms to successfully opt out of the program for medical or other reasons.

Karen Bashista lost her job after declining the flu shot.

“I’ve never had one,” she said. “My mother had a flu vaccine and had a bad reaction to it. I’m typically a very healthy person.”

Bashista said she is very careful about washing her hands and never works sick. She attends a non-denominational Christian church and said while reading the Bible she got the feeling the Holy Spirit told her not to take the vaccine. Before being fired, she filled out the form to decline the vaccine and had a meeting with a hospital epidemiologist.

“Because it’s not a specific doctrine of my church, that’s why they did not accept my letter,” she said she was told.

On paper, misconduct is the official reason given for her firing, she said, a fact the nurse of 38 years said she finds frustrating. She said her evaluations had been positive in seven years at St. Joe, and she was once named outstanding nurse of the year for her unit.

The UMHS policy went into effect in September. About 14,500 of 25,000 employees at UMHS must receive vaccinations for both the flu and pertussis. The policy includes doctors, nurses and others who regularly come in contact with patients. If they decline a flu vaccine, those employees must wear a mask when interacting with patients or face a disciplinary process that could lead to unemployment.

Other employees, such as support services staff, will have to wear masks when they interact with patients if they haven’t been vaccinated for the flu. The same is true for volunteers, vendors or students in clinical settings.

Pertussis is a bacterial infection commonly known as whooping cough. Washtenaw County is at the epicenter of a statewide whooping cough epidemic, with 232 cases reported through Dec. 20, according to health department officials. In 2009, 81 cases were reported.

Thursday, UMHS sent a mass e-mail reminding workers about the policy change that stated over 17,000 employees have complied so far.

“This requirement demonstrates to patients and visitors our strong
 commitment to protecting them from a virus that can cause serious 
illness in the most vulnerable
", the e-mail said..

Juliana Keeping is a health and environment reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter