COVID vaccine mandate discussed during NRMC Board meeting Tuesday

Wednesday, December 1, 2021
The Nevada Regional Medical Center Board of Directors met Tuesday evening in the Mezzanine Conference room on the second floor of the hospital.
Photos by Sarah Haney | Daily Mail Editor

The Nevada Regional Medical Center Board of Directors met in regular session Tuesday evening in the Mezzanine Conference room on the second floor of the hospital. Joining the board were incoming board members Jayne Novak and Cindy Thompson. Novak and Thompson will be replacing Delton Fast and Steve Russ, effective January 2022.

It was noted that the administrative team has been working to get a policy and information out to staff regarding the COVID vaccine mandate for employees and deadlines. Exemptions are offered for religious or medical reasons and the administrative team has been working to answer questions and concerns from employees to ensure a smooth transition.

"We are continuing to implement our policy," noted Chief Quality Officer Holly Bush in the Administrative Report in regards to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees. "We are already being asked to, once a month, give our percentage of vaccinated employees to the federal government through the CDC website and that's going to be tied into some Medicare payments. The other thing is, I'm not at all convinced this preliminary injunction is going to become a permanent injunction or what's going to happen in the courts. I certainly don't want to put the hospital in a place where we have to scramble to make adjustments."

The "preliminary injunction" that Bush is referring to was issued by a federal judge on Monday to halt the start of President Biden's national vaccine mandate for health care workers, which was originally set to begin next week. The mandate, currently, can not be enforced in Missouri or in the nine other states that joined the lawsuit.

Judge Matthew Schelp is the judge who issued the injunction and he is with the Eastern District of Missouri. The other states that fall under the injunction with Missouri are Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

In other news in the administrative report:

• The cell booster project has concluded. This should provide added signal strength for patients/guests while in the building. The fiber project for the upgraded infrastructure project is almost complete and work continues on the upgraded phone system. Supply issues are causing some delays for these projects, as well.

• The Foundation is working on the annual Tree of Shining Memories campaign, as well as gathering items for an online auction to take the place of the Gala and Purse Bingo events. The auction will go "live" on Dec. 6 and will continue for one week.

• NRMC is preparing for its annual disaster drill that will be held on Dec. 8. This will include outside agencies that wish to participate, as well. The fire alarm panel upgrades were finished recently. Preparations continue for survey readiness in early 2022 across the facility.

• Annual employee benefits enrollment is currently open to all employees. Employee flu shots are coming to an end. Two days of internal vaccine clinics were held last week for first doses or boosters to NRMC employees.

• The Christmas Dinner has been scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 9. This is for board members, medical staff and administrative team and will be held at the Country Club.

• The NRMC Board of Directors will not meet in December.

In approval items:

• Baxter IV Pumps: Replacement of 60 pumps facility wide. Old pumps are over 10 years old. The cost for this is $221,228 (five years), with a budget of $165,420. With a motion and a second, this received unanimous board approval.

• RHC Generators: Three generators for the Rural Health Clinics. The cost for this is $36,550 and is covered by the RHC COVID funding budget. With a motion and a second, this received unanimous board approval.

• Surgical Stretchers (4): Replacement of surgery stretchers. The cost for this is $24,479 with a budget of $0. With a motion and a second, this received unanimous board approval.

• Cardiac Rehab Software: Replacement of outdated version. The cost for this is $42,870 with a budget of $0. With a motion and a second, this received unanimous board approval.

• Emergency Department Exam Room Computers: Nine exam room computers to increase patient care/flow. The cost for this is $23,042 and is covered by the COVID funding budget. With a motion and a second, this received unanimous board approval.

• Call Center Platform for Central Scheduling: Momentum platform to add seven queues for each clinic and ancillary services for Central Scheduling. The cost for this is $28,285 with a budget of $0. With a motion and a second, this received unanimous board approval.