To the editor:

Name one person who hasn’t been to a restaurant, a grocery store, or a retailer in the past year. Regardless of an individual’s vaccination status, I doubt they’re worried about the vaccination status of the other person who is serving them, why? Because, the staff waiting on you are protected… well, now walk into any healthcare institution in Ohio and you will find ALL staff masked with the proper PPE every minute of their day (not the decorative masks you see on the streets, but in fact K95’s) and per our regulations we’re required to “fit test” our staff so that we properly protect all who walk through our doors. In addition, we are screened, tested regularly and tested again…

Yet, we remain are at war and we need our healthcare heroes back on the front lines! In the past 20 months, we have lost hundreds of thousands of industry care givers and professionals who have left the aging services industry and the war is getting ever more challenging. Now, the federal government and our regulatory agency, CMS, are adding more ammunition to our battlefield by mandating that EVERY healthcare employee, from those who keep our dishes clean to those who care for our residents/patients, mandate what they inject into their bodies. For generations, we have practiced universally to protect those who we serve and to this day, that obligation has never been more steadfast! However, segmenting our industry alone to mandate this vaccine is pushing more talent off of the Ohio battlefields…enough is enough!

Laurence C. Gumina

Chief Executive Officer, Ohio Living