Fourteen employees at Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) have been terminated — with cause — for failing to comply with the institution’s vaccination policy.
A mandatory vaccination policy for team members was adopted on Sept. 7. Staff had until Nov. 30 to show evidence of full vaccination (2 doses) or a documented medical or Human Rights exemption, or be terminated with cause.
“OSMH provided three months to support team members with vaccination and in that period created the space for open dialogue and a forum to have ethical discussions on choice with an alignment to safety for those we serve,” said Terry Dyni, director of communications for OSMH.
More than 99 per cent of the approximately 1,500 staff at OSMH have fully complied, including 100 per cent of credentialed staff.
“Due to the low number, and the potential risk of unintentionally identifying any of these individuals, we will not be providing a breakdown of positions that these team members held," said Dyni, noting OSMH has recruited 111 people to the organization since September.
He stressed the vaccination policy is a vital way to protect both staff and the community from the virus, which has killed more than 10,000 people in Ontario since the onset of the pandemic almost two years ago.
“The mandatory vaccination policy is a critical element of our strategy to keep team members and the community safe, particularly through the most recent increase in local COVID activity,” Dyni explained.
Evidence of that increase came yesterday, when the health unit reported there were 16 new cases in Orillia — in a single day.
There have been 485 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Orillia since the pandemic began and nine deaths.
As of yesterday, there were five people with COVID-19 in OSMH, which, for the first time, has a confirmed outbreak on Soldiers’ One, the hospital’s medical unit.
