Vaccination rates in the Chippewa Valley's nursing homes vary widely

Aug. 27—EAU CLAIRE — Vaccination rates at nursing homes in the Chippewa Valley vary widely, especially among employees, federal data indicate.

At a small handful of local nursing homes, less than 50% of health care staffers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

A Leader-Telegram analysis of vaccination rates at 19 area nursing homes found that as of Aug. 15, an average of 89% of residents and 63% of health care staff were fully vaccinated.

That's slightly higher than the statewide average of 86% of residents and 61% of staff, according to federal data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Vaccination rates vary significantly between facilities.

At the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls, 99% of current residents are fully vaccinated, according to CMS data. Dove Healthcare-West in Eau Claire is right behind, at 98%. At the Meadowbrook at Bloomer, 70% of residents are fully vaccinated.

There's a larger degree of variability among employees. At the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls, 84% of health care workers are fully vaccinated. At Cornell Health Services, the rate is 43%, according to federal data from the CMS.

People inside long-term care facilities are at "the highest risk for serious illness from COVID-19," said Lieske Giese, director of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department.

Experts haven't widely landed on a benchmark for vaccination rates inside nursing homes, said Dr. Andrew Badley, chair of the COVID-19 task force at Mayo Clinic.

"To me, the term 'herd immunity' is almost an arbitrary term, because we don't yet know what level of protection is required to block the continued spread of the pandemic," Badley said this week in a call with reporters. "I think, pragmatically, the more people who can get vaccinated the better, and I think it is a disservice to presume that a certain proportion is enough."

Some nursing homes are turning to incentives to get people vaccinated.

The Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls, which had the highest vaccination rate in both residents and staffers, hosted three onsite vaccination clinics and will even help visitors to get vaccinated, said administrator Megan Corcoran.

The veterans home also began a vaccine support program that pays staff four hours' wages to help them sort out the logistics of getting the shot, Corcoran said in an email.

The Health Department anticipates that nursing home residents and workers who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines early in 2021 will be the first to receive booster doses when they become available this fall, Giese said.

Area nursing homes reported the following vaccination rates for current residents and current health care workers, as of Aug. 15:

Dove Healthcare-South

* in Eau Claire: 83% of residents, 75% of staff vaccinated

Grace Lutheran Communities-Prairie Pointe Rehab Suites

* in Altoona: 82% of residents, 60% of staff vaccinated

Oakwood Health Services

* in Altoona: 86% of residents, 62% of staff vaccinated

Grace Lutheran Communities-River Pines

* in Altoona: 96% of residents, 60% of staff vaccinated

Dove Healthcare-West

* in Eau Claire: 98% of residents, 77% of staff vaccinated

Chippewa Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation

* in Chippewa Falls: 95% of residents, 62% of staff vaccinated

Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls:

* 99% of residents, 84% of staff vaccinated

Dove Healthcare-Wissota Health and Regional Vent Center

* in Chippewa Falls: 92% of residents, 63% of staff vaccinated

Meadowbrook at Bloomer

* : 70% of residents, 56% of staff vaccinated

Dove Healthcare-Bloomer

* : 88% of residents, 46% of staff vaccinated

Cornell Health Services

* : 94% of residents, 43% of staff vaccinated

The Neighbors of Dunn County-Central Neighborhood

* in Menomonie: 96% of residents, 63% of staff vaccinated

American Lutheran Communities-Menomonie

* : 76% of residents, 45% of staff vaccinated

Colfax Health & Rehabilitation Center:

* 88% of residents, 57% of staff vaccinated

American Lutheran Communities-Mondovi:

* 86% of residents, 63% of staff vaccinated

Pigeon Falls Health Care Center:

* 97% of residents, 75% of staff vaccinated

Gundersen Tri-County Care Center

* in Whitehall: 100% of residents, 79% of staff vaccinated

Trempealeau County Health Care Center-Institute for Mental Disease

* : 94% of residents, 69% of staff vaccinated

Oakbrook Health and Rehabilitation

* in Thorp: 71% of residents, 56% of staff vaccinated

The data are reported by nursing homes and collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CMS data are separate from state-level data collection.)

The CMS' dashboard that collects vaccination rates in nursing homes can be viewed at its website, data.cms.gov/covid-19/covid-19-nursing-home-data, or at tinyurl.com/ywh4vmpc. Click the 'Visualize data' button to see details for Wisconsin nursing homes.

Vaccine requirement

President Joe Biden last week announced that his administration will require nursing home staff to be vaccinated as a condition for the facilities to keep getting federal Medicare and Medicaid funding, the Associated Press reported.

"If you visit, live or work in a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk for contracting COVID from unvaccinated employees," Biden said.

The mandate, which would be issued by the CMS, could go into effect as soon as September, the AP reported.

Dove Healthcare and the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Chippewa Falls declined to comment on the mandate.

"We do not have a comment at this time as we have not received any official guidance or timeframe from CMS," said Angela Hite, Dove Healthcare Regional Director of Community Relations, in an email. "Our understanding is we will possibly learn more in September."

In the wake of Biden's announcement, one nursing home group is calling for his administration to broaden the vaccine requirement.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living said Thursday it is urging the federal government to apply the requirement to all health care facilities, not just nursing homes.

AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson said Thursday that if the Biden administration only requires vaccinations in nursing homes, vaccine-hesitant workers will "flee to other health care providers and leave many centers without adequate staff to care for residents."

Statewide, about 83% of people 65 and older are fully vaccinated.

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