Mason Health delivers 'State of the Pandemic'

Kirk Boxleitner | Feb 24, 20220

Matt Baide count

Mason Health hosts a vaccine clinic at the Shelton YMCA on Jan. 7.

Mason Health Superintendent and CEO Eric Moll gave the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce a look at how COVID-19 affected the hospital.

Moll told the gathering Feb. 17 that Mason Health's inpatient numbers are "still high by historical standards," but not as high as it was last month.

Moll estimated the hospital averaged about 13 patients pre-pandemic, whereas the five months prior to February were trending around 30, more than double the preceding (and current) numbers.

According to Moll, staffing and resources have been stretched by the number of COVID-positive staff, which remained "very rare" through the pandemic until the third quarter of last year, which saw a surge of delta and breakthrough cases.

"The omicron wave probably hit us hardest, from the perspectives of both patients and staff," Moll said. "Our influx of inpatients was higher than we had in any previous surges."

Mason Health has four employees off due to testing positive for COVID - last month it was more than 25.

Financially, Moll described the hospital district as "doing OK," although he granted that "having a lot of federal stimulus helped," even as he added, "We're kind of weaned off" those funds.

"In 2020, it was absolutely essential and critical that we received federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act funding," Moll said. "We ended up slightly positive for the year ... By the second half of last year, much of our volume started to trend back in a very positive direction, so I have a high degree of confidence that we're back on stable footing."

Surgical services were shut several weeks ago, but Moll said he anticipates Mason Health will be able to resume surgeries this coming month, although he expects it will involve working through a backlog.

Moll sees all job fields - not just health care - as "feeling a massive workforce challenge," with COVID ranking "not as our top concern anymore, but probably still our close second," which he suspects is similar for other employers.

"Relative to other community hospitals, we're doing OK. We're doing well," Moll said. "Relative to ordinary times, this is as challenging as it's ever been. We're generally able to fully staff our inpatient wings and services, but that doesn't mean our management and teams aren't working overtime to fill in, scramble and plug holes. We're treading water to keep up."

Mason Health's "record number" of openings include 11 medical assistant and 12 registered nurse positions.

"Pre-pandemic, we'd fill an RN opening within a month," Moll said. "Now, that typically extends to 60 to 90 days."

In addition, Moll expressed concerns that House Bill 1868, which he described as establishing staffing ratios, could further disincentivize licensed RNs from coming to the "closed state" of Washington.

"A majority of states have licensure reciprocity, so if you're licensed in one state, you can go across state lines to another with reciprocity," Moll said. "Washington is one of the few that's a closed state, which poses an additional barrier for licensed RNs to come to our state."

Moll stressed that "our job here is to overcome those challenges," and to that end, Mason Health has been working toward a registered nurse and medical assistant development program in partnership with the Shelton School District's Health Sciences Academy, for which South Sound Community College is set to reserve RN slots for Mason County.

Given the degree to which Moll sees RN programs as "oversubscribed" and "incredibly competitive," he deemed RN slots "essentially a lottery system" without such reservations.

"We take recent graduates of the Health Sciences Academy and we fund their entire education," Moll said. "If we have an opening, they agree to come work here for two to three years. If we don't have a job opening, we don't expect them to pay it back."

Mason Health plans to bring two or three nurses into this pipeline yearly, in addition to serving as a training site, Moll said.

"If you want to work in the hospital as an RN nurse technician, we'll offer that option," said Moll, who added that a living stipend would be supplied for those who focus on their schoolwork and practicum.

A similar program for MAs would furnish them with apprenticeships through Mason Health so they can progress through their educational programs while working full time in the clinic.

"By the end of your year here, you can take the state certification exam and become a certified MA," Moll said. "We started two last month in that program."