CCH Trustees Respond to Biden Administrations Call for COVID Vaccine Mandates

To Whom It May Concern:

Campbell County Health (CCH) in Gillette, Wyoming, is host to Campbell County Memorial Hospital—a 90-bed acute care, rural hospital—as well as nearly 20 clinics, a long-term care facility and surgery center. In all, Campbell County Health employs approximately 1,100 people including almost 80 physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

We understand and respect the decisions of other healthcare systems who have mandated their employees be vaccinated for COVID-19. The Board of Trustees for CCH feel such policies do not fit our organization’s core values. What other organizations are implementing may be appropriate for them and the communities they serve, it is not appropriate for us, our staff, and our community. Those healthcare systems are in different environments, and markets.

Biden’s directive to require employees be vaccinated as a condition of participating in Medicare and Medicaid is a gross federal overreach. Implementing such mandates in our community could leave us without enough healthcare workers to care for our elderly and sick, including those with COVID-19. This will not only deflate our already declining workforce, but leave our organization in a critical staffing predicament that we have never dealt with. Our hospital and other facilities cannot operate without our devoted staff. Without them, healthcare services in our community, as well as the ones we care for would suffer tremendously.

Throughout the existence of the pandemic, our entire staff has worked tirelessly to continue offering the highest level of quality care throughout the community. They have served during this crisis, under sometimes hazardous conditions, they have experienced burnout, and they have cared for their own families while simultaneously caring for the community. During this time, the Board of Trustees continue to hold the opinion that our employees are best equipped to make their own personal healthcare decisions. We believe in personal freedom, and do not agree with forcing our employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment.

The Board of Trustees does not condone this stomach-churning attempt of government overreach. Article 1 Section 38 of the Wyoming Constitution grants each competent adult the right to make his or her own health care decisions and provides that, “the state of Wyoming shall act to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.”

While we may have to comply with these federal vaccine mandates as they are implemented to keep our state license and to keep our doors open, we support the efforts of our governor, federal representatives, and our state legislature to fight back against this policy. It simply does not align with our community’s values.

Campbell County is proudly conservative, and we do not like the federal government telling us what to do. We will continue to push forward, and the fears and concerns of our employees will not be disregarded by the Board of Trustees.

Respectfully,

Campbell County Health Board of Trustees