Hello and welcome to PBS39 in WLVT community update.

Coronavirus.

It's presented by Capital Blue Cross brought to you with help from our community partner Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We are coming to you live from the public Media Center in Bethlehem.

I'm Brittany Sweeney after 125 episodes going back more than a year, we are in the homestretch with community update.

Next week will be our last for this show, a show inspired by your questions and your desire for information about the coronavirus.

But we still have a lot to cover before we go.

Our guests today include a long time health care worker who came out of retirement to help people during the pandemic.

And with more people returning to the office.

Also here is an employment attorney to answer questions about workers rights and of vaccines.

Our guests will be with us in just a moment.

If you have a question, please give us a call.

The phone number is four eight four eight two one zero zero zero eight.

We'll answer some of your questions live.

Plus for coronavirus updates, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

You can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley dog.

There you'll find helpful information in both English and Spanish.

Now let's take a look at today's top headlines.

With more vaccines given and demand trailing off the Lehigh Valley mass vaccination clinics are winding down.

The Allentown Health Bureau plans to end its operations at the fairgrounds by the end of the month.

Its focus will become getting kids 12 and up vaccinated at schools and in Bethlehem, the Health Bureau is shutting down its wind clinic later this week, shots will be administered instead at Bethlehem City Hall, starting June 10th.

Today, Northampton County announced vaccinations also are available now at the drive through testing site in Bethlehem Moore Township.

Starting tomorrow, you can get vaccinated at the coordinated Health Building at 3100 Emmerich Boulevard.

You have to be at least 18 and a Northampton County resident.

Appointments are also required.

You can register at LVHN dog or by calling eight three three five eight four six to eight three to vaccine providers have given over 10.6 million doses across Pennsylvania, more and 54% of the population is fully vaccinated and 71% have gotten at least a first dose.

Today the state reported 580 new coronavirus cases and 45 more deaths.

The infection rate continues to fall.

The seven day moving average of cases is under 700, down 43% from a week ago.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Pennsylvania is 27,200 and 59.

And finally free Beer is the latest White House incentive to persuade Americans to get vaccinated.

President Joe Biden today announced a month of action to get more shots into arms by the Fourth of July.

It includes partnership with Anheuser Busch.

The brewer says it will give free alcohol to everyone.

21 over if 70% of US adults have at least one shot by independence Day, there's an incentive for you.

Let's meet our guests for the day.

And panic.

Retired five years go as chief nursing officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Then the pandemic hit.

She'll tell us about what she's doing now.

We're also joined by George who specializes in labor and employment law.

Thank you both so much for joining us, Mr Jelavic.

We will be with you in just a few minutes.

We are going to begin today with Hispanic.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for inviting me.

Absolutely.

And you retired in 2016 and we're coming along then the world changed in early 2020.

As someone who spent a career helping other people, what was t like as the pandemic began to unfold and you started to realize the severity of this public health crisis?

So as a pandemic evolved and I was retired and the opportunity arose that I became president of the LVHN retirees Association.

So as president we have over 334 members within the retiree group.

So you can imagine they were all we've all been retired from LVHN most of us with 30, 40, 40, five years of experience and expertize.

And when the pandemic began, we had to cancel a lot of our face to face events.

So everything we did with communication was via our newsletter.

We have a burst email set and a Facebook page.

So as the pandemic started to evolve more and more, we would see news reports about our friends and colleagues who were still working at the hospital cell site at LVHN.

And you would hear stories about shortages of PPE the personal protective equipment and how the hospital was overwhelmed with Covid patients.

But my colleagues, the clinical colleagues in particular within the retiree group, I was getting emails and phone calls like what can we do to help?

Isn't there something that we can do as a group to help our colleagues and friends and our patients within the community during this evolving and ever it seemed at the time a pandemic.

So I'm lucky enough to still have contact with the present CNO, Kim Jordan.

And when I talk to her, I, I would say to her actually hugger about what is it like there are retired ANIZDA that want to be able to give back and come and help.

We would be willing to do things like pass water, make beds, anything that you think would be helpful.

But as you know, the Covid restrictions restricted volunteer and also visitors.

All right.

From coming into the hospitals.

So we looked at different ways that we could help and we started out with things like donation to the Covid program where we gave a thousand to help with purchasing things like personal protective equipment.

And then we heard from our the hospital that they were looking at people who could help make masks.

So the call went out to our members and other people in the community and we had people who donated bolts of fabric as an example or the elastic that you needed for the ears that they donated the fabric.

Other people immediately started sewing masks and offering those.

And along with not only giving them back to the hospital for the hospital and people that were not right at the bedside, the higher type masks, they also started to develop to make masks and give them to their friends and neighbors.

So next the next call came out for baby monitors.

We're in the critical care areas to allow the nurses in critical care to stay in the room with the patient.

So they didn't have to if they needed a medication or a piece of equipment, they didn't have to leave that room, take off that personal protective equipment, get what they need it redone.

A new set, a protective equipment go back in the room.

They were able to use those baby monitors to communicate to the other nurses in the department so that they can get the equipment to them without the nurse having to leave the room.

So I know some of our members donated some of those baby monitors.

So that's how we started out.

Now as we got closer to the vaccine, and I again had an opportunity to talk to Kim Gordon and talked about, wow, let's look at getting the our retired our couldn't we help give the vaccines?

Because I'm telling years of experience in this group and expertize and giving shots is something we have done many, many times.

So talked about it.

And in December, late December, I got a call that from Kim.

It actually was early January I'm sorry, early January.

She called and said, listen, we're looking for making a call out for retired.

Our chance to become Covid vaccinators.

So I immediately, like within the next day, had a an email set up and we said to be a bursty male, giving them all the contact information, what was involved and the HR Human Resource Department at LVHN.

We worked with a group that handled all of the applications and the screening processes, etc, and they said they were overwhelmed by the response from the retired our friends.

And I know in the first round we they brought in 44 zero retired our friends who wanted to become the Covid vaccinators.

And as everything LVHN we certainly had to go through the screening process.

And then they offered they gave us a one day orientation where they actually took in and that was early February.

We had that went in for orientation and they taught us again about the vaccines, how they work, what are the side effects.

They talk to us about the I am injection process, which I saw is we're very familiar with.

But yet there were new syringes that had different safety locks on them.

So we thought we were taught about how what they look like, what they work out.

So we'd be very comfortable when we started to give the injections.

The other part of that is certainly after we finished the orientation and the other piece was computer.

So, you know, as retired folks, not everybody is comfortable or computer savvy.

So I found with the like 30 people in the room with me on the day of my orientation that the biggest concern was the computer and having being able to access things quickly to put the information in accurately because it was important information that was going to be used for their series doses and also being collected by the department fell.

So it was just interesting that and I am injection, we're very comfortable in giving that it is the computer that seems to be something that is the most anxiety we bought.

We got through it and on top of that we did a one hour competency session where we worked in one of the clinics, the actual immunization clinics where we gave shot, worked with the computer and had somebody check us for our competency signed off and we were ready to go.

So I had the orientation on 4th of February, February 9th, I was working at one of the immunization clinics and one of the first things I did was a mobile clinic at a Silicon Valley manor where we gave over 223 residents their first Covid vaccination.

So that's how it started.

Yeah, and it seems like your group has been such an incredible resource as the volunteer group to LVHN throughout this entire pandemic.

Can you walk us through a day at Dorney Park?

What was that like for your team?

So the Dorney Park drive thru clinic.

All right.

We were going to we had 4000 people scheduled the day that I work there and it's just an amazing, amazing group of people.

And really it's run by our infection control department and our emergency preparedness department.

And I was a vaccinator.

So you work with people who are scribing so someone doing the computer work and you're actually giving in your job is to give that vaccination, get that shot in the arm.

And the folks I think the most the most difficult thing of the whole day is when the person or people in the car, the driver of the car is driving our car through the tent where you are ready to give the immunization is to get them to put their car in their car and park and to be sure, Dorney Park once that's done, it goes very smoothly where they're all set because they've already been screened.

We have a piece of paper that has all their information on.

We know that they've been screened and ready to go.

So it's a matter of talking to them, reassuring them that's a big part of your job as a nurse is to alleviate that fear of the shot.

And even in the drive through you spent a little time doing that and it's great talking to people.

They were so excited.

And that's one of the joys of positive and so anxious to come get this vaccine.

So it's a positive experience even though they're anxious get don't get me wrong, no one loves getting a shot and they'll tell you that.

But they're positive.

They were excited at the day I worked.

They were getting their second shot.

So they were finishing their series.

So we got to celebrate that it was their second shot that within the days after there at two weeks after they had their second shot, they're considered completely immunized.

And we would talk to them and we would celebrate and they would tell us things like all right, we have the second shot.

What are you going to do now that you have the second shot?

We had one family.

packed.id their car was all- They were on the road going to see their grandchildren for the first time in a year.

That was just one of the things that they were doing.

Some people were they were going to breakfast for the first time following the vaccination, but most of them talked about the importance they were going to get to see their families.

They were going to get to hug their grandkids and it was just it's such a feeling of gratitude and positivity that it gives people hope.

It gave me hope that you think, wow, maybe we are going to get to the end of this.

Absolutely.

And I can attest to how smoothly and how pleasant everyone was out there at Dorne.

That's where I got my shots as well.

And where did this come from, this sense of community to jump into action and help even though you were retired, where did that come from?

Was it seeing those frontline workers who were still in action fighting this and you thought I have to do something?

It seems like that sense of helping people never left you even after retirement.

I think people who choose to go in health care really and I know it sounds trite and simple, but you get it because you want to help people.

So when you see as a person that has been in health care for a long period of time, I go 36 years at LVHN and you see this going on in your heart.

You just want to be able to help people.

You want to help your community, your patients, but you also want to help your friends and colleagues that are in the thick of it, you know.

So I think that is the driving force for anybody in health care and particularly at least the nurses.

I and the other clinicians.

I mean, you know, the providers and everybody else that did things through the clinics, etc.

I think that is always the driving force with us.

Absolutely.

And you mentioned that there were about 40 retired nurses who came together to do this.

How did you all communicate?

How did you get together and decide, OK, we're going to do this?

Where did you find these people?

So and in the group, my retiree group, we have nice was like and I am really a big portion of them are retired.

And so we have this thing we call our Berks email.

So when I found out from Kim that we were they were looking to bring retired our friends back to help with the immunizations, I sent out what we call our first email.

We also have a newsletter where we've and keeping we have been keeping people up to date with the Covid updates, anything that was coming from the hospital that would answer questions, etc We would go out in the newsletter.

But that email Albright with the combination of keeping them updated about Covid and making them feel they were still part of that hospital community.

I think that helped.

And certainly once the especially the nurses when they found out that while this gives us something that we are can actually do to impact on our patients and also free up the nurses on the inpatient and outpatient areas who could stay in their units and in their departments and take care of the sickest of the patients while we who are retired and have the time to do it and the skills and experience to help give the vaccines.

And before we bring in our next guest, I just want to ask you one last question.

When you look back on this experience in a few years from now, when were more removed from the pandemic, hopefully, what will you remember?

What will stick out to you?

I think certainly the connection with our patients and our community and the fact that there wasn't a time that I was in those clinics that I didn't feel such appreciation and giving people hope.

And to me that is the greatest gift in terms of what I can do for patients in our community.

Wonderful.

And Hanneke, retired chief nursing officer at LVHN, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you.

Very much and thank you for all of your service and help during this pandemic.

We continue this community update on coronavirus on PBS39 and you can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at nine 30 on 91 three WLVT.

Let's bring in our next guests.

George Hillswick is in Allentown attorney who specializes in employment and unfair labor practices.

Mr Hulmeville, thank you so much for joining us.

Lots of questions these days about the vaccines and going back to work, going back into the physical buildings.

So what are you hearing from clients or employees about workplace issues surrounding this pandemic?

What are some of the big questions they have or issues that they're facing as they head back in?

Thanks for having me, Brittany.

And I just want to say thanks to Anne and her whole crew for everything they did them and all the rest of the first responders and health care workers.

We all owe a great debt of gratitude to.

So as far as your question and the issues that are facing employers right now, probably the biggest part has to do with the vaccine issue.

Right.

In terms of can you require your employees to get vaccinated?

Should you have a mandatory policy?

Should you have a voluntary policy?

How do we get people back to work?

You have a lot of people that have been out of work for a long time.

You have people who have been telecommuting who want to remain telecommuting.

So I think that's the big challenge, trying to get everybody back to work, trying to make sure that business can get back up and running.

So what's the plain and simple?

Can employers what's the answer to this?

Can employers require you to get vaccinated?

There's a lot of back and forth.

I hear people talking about all the time.

So what's the answer?

Plain and simple.

Yes.

You can have a mandatory vaccination policy.

You can make that a condition of employment for somebody to come back to work.

Now, as with all rules that are out there in the area, the law there are exceptions.

Right?

So the exception is if somebody has a bona fide religious objection to the vaccine or they cannot get a vaccine because of a medical reason, a disability reason, you have to attempt to accommodate that individual and there's a whole process that the accommodation process to go through.

But to answer is yes, you can mandate the vaccine, but you have to be willing to accommodate people if they have concerns based upon medical reasons or religious reasons.

George, some people say this is a hip violation.

Can you explain why it's not a hip violation?

I guess the easiest way to answer that, Brittany, is that the EEOC says it's not hip a violation.

So the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has come out and said, listen, this is not a medical inquiry.

The question to somebody, have you gotten the vaccine?

Can you provide proof of the vaccine?

You have to provide proof that a vaccine that's not deemed to be a medical inquiry.

Now, if as an employer, I'm going to say you must get the vaccine to come back to work and I'm going to require you to provide me a copy of your vaccination card.

I have to treat that as a medical record.

And I and it does have protections with respect to the record itself.

But in terms of the question, the short answer is the federal government is telling us it's not a hip violation.

OK, there you go.

And so for the employer side of things, what do they need to do in order to require this from their employes?

And how do they enforce it?

Well, the most important thing, as with all employment law issues, is to have a policy, make sure you have a written policy regarding what you're going to do regarding vaccinations.

Are is your policy going to be mandatory?

Is it going to be BioNTech?

If it's going to be voluntary?

What happens if somebody doesn't decides not to get the vaccine?

Are they going to have to continue to wear masks, social distance, telework?

What are you going to do if it's going to be a mandatory policy, which means you're going to require that as a condition of coming back to work?

You need to make sure you have in place what the procedure is going to look like and in addition, have the procedure in place for people to make accommodation requests, make sure they understand that they won't be retaliated against for making an accommodation request.

Make sure that your supervisors and managers are trained in terms of how to handle accommodation requests and in understanding what an undue hardship is.

You can deny somebody accommodation request.

So if you have an employee that says, hey, look, I'm not comfortable getting the vaccine, I have this medical condition that makes me have a compromised immune system.

Doctor, it's telling me I shouldn't get the vaccine.

Therefore, I'm not going to be able to get the vaccine.

But I want to come back to work as an employer.

How are you going to respond to that?

What are you going to do?

What are you going to be able to show that it's an undue hardship or are you going to be able to say, hey, look, that's OK, you can still come back to work, but you have to continue to wear a mask or you have to social distance or you know what we're going to allow you to continue to telework for a period of time longer than other people.

Sure.

So make sure you have everything laid out, to put it simply.

Yeah.

I mean, with anything documentation is the key when it comes to employment law and for all employers, if you're going to have any type of vaccination policy, you want it to be in writing.

You don't want to rely upon what your memory might be and you want to make sure you consistently enforce that policy.

Great.

Great.

So I wanted to also ask this right now, of course, vaccines only have emergency approval.

Is that an acceptable excuse for someone to say, listen, I don't want to get the vaccin?

It only has emergency approval right now.

I want to know more about it.

Is that a legitimate excuse for them to then forego the vaccine and come back to work for purposes of employment law?

No, it's not a legitimate reason, but I'm not going to get into I'm not going to offer an opinion on whether it is or it is.

And I mean, everybody's entitled to their opinion.

This is a very divisive is a very divisive topic issue.

I understand both sides of the argument.

I can tell you as an employment lawyer, someone that's been doing this for for 25 years, all that we're concerned about is for employment law purposes.

Is that a legitimate reason to say that you're not going to get the vaccine?

And the answer is no, it isn't because of employment law.

As employers, we're only governed by Title seven, the Americans with Disabilities Act and all the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, all the other laws that are out there that government says employers.

The emergency authorizes approval that falls under the food and Drug Administration.

The Food and Drug Administration has no jurisdiction over employers.

Now the government can't force everybody to go out, get the vaccine.

They would have to deal with the Food and Drug Administration.

As far as employers go, employers are perfectly within their rights to say to employees, hey, you have to get the vaccine if you want to come back to work.

Now, I'll be honest with you, Brittany.

Most employers haven't done that.

I would tell you probably 90 5% of the employers that I have come into contact with have adopted voluntary vaccination policy.

So the overwhelming majority of employers are making this voluntary.

They are not making it mandatory.

Why might employee employers be reluctant to set that policy in place that you have to get vaccinated to come back policy?

Why might they be reluctant about that?

Well, I think it is much it's a much more complicated policy to enforce.

As I said, if it's going to be mandatory, you have to consider every person's objection on the basis of disability medical reason or religious a religious objection.

So if you make it voluntary and someone just decides, hey, I'm not going to get it, what you typically put in your voluntary vaccination policy is what if are not going to get it?

This is what you're going to have to do.

You can come back to work, but you're going to have to continue to wear a mask.

You're going to have to make sure you social distance.

You're going to have to do these other things in a mandatory vaccination policy if you don't get it.

And you don't have a legitimate reason not to get it, what's going to happen to you is you'll lose your job.

So I don't think employers want to take it that far.

Sure, sure.

And what about incentives?

You know, some of these employers are offering cash incentives for their employees to get vaccinated.

Do you think that's a good idea?

Is that good practice for a business to start?

I'll give you the lawyerly answer, which is it depends right?

It I think it's great.

I mean, obviously it starts with education when it comes to vaccination.

We want to make all of our employees are educated.

And I understand the pros and the cons.

They understand with some of the myths SA and I understand the reality and the facts behind those things.

But if you're going to offer someone an incentive legally, you can do it as long as it doesn't it's not deemed coercive.

So if I'm going to say everyone that works for me, if you get the vaccine, I'm going to give you $10,000.

Well, who is not going to get the vaccine that's going to be deemed coerced.

That's going to be deemed it is.

It's such an incentive that you don't really have the choice.

You're going to have to do it.

And therefore, obviously when you're getting the vaccine, there are a lot of medical questions that get asked and that's a concern under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If the incentive is a more minor incentive, say a gift card or a day off or something like that, I think that's a situation where you're not going to run into any problems with the Americans with Disabilities Act because it's going to be deemed a non coercive incentive noncoercive incentives I think are a great idea.

Anything that we can do to get us back to some sense of normalcy.

And I think we're approaching that now.

But to even get back more to a sense of normalcy I think is good.

Absolutely.

Attorney George Jelavic, thank you so much for weighing in on this topic today.

We really appreciate.

Great.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

And we want to thank our guests for being with us today.

And of course, we want to thank you for joining us for community update on Coronavirus.

We'll be back Friday at four to talk about how the pandemic has affected going to the dentist.

If you have a question, you can leave it at our website, PBS39.

.Org on social media or give us a call and leave it there.

The phone number is eight four eight two one zero zero zero eight for PBS39 and WLVT news.

I'm Brittany Sweeney Staci