Nursing Home Worker Goes from Vaccine Skeptic to Advocate
Nursing Home Worker Goes from Vaccine Skeptic to Advocate Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.
Nursing home worker Adelina Ramos identifies with colleagues who are skeptical about getting the because she once was, too. "I was, like, uh-uh. I don't trust the vaccine,” Ramos, 35, remembers thinking before it became available at Greenville Center, the Rhode Island nursing home where she's worked for five years. “I was having all those crazy thoughts that everybody else had." But the certified nursing assistant (CNA) has since become an advocate for vaccination among her coworkers. Her labor union has asked her to speak with other CNAs who . She even testified in Congress about the lack of vaccine education for her and her colleagues. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Ramos takes her advocacy seriously. She understands what's at stake, because she has witnessed scores of residents — who she says felt like family to her — fall sick and has seen two dozen of them die last year. Nationwide, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. There are roughly 550,000 CNAs working in nursing homes across the United States, providing over 90 percent of the direct patient care, according to the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA). An informal survey of CNAs conducted late last year, before the vaccine rolled out, showed 72 percent were skeptical about getting vaccinated, says Lori Porter, CEO of the NAHCA. But more recent reports show a growing acceptance. A , for instance, showed that by early March, half of health care workers in nursing homes or assisted living facilities had received a COVID-19 vaccination. But there's still a long way to go to vaccinate the rest, leaving long-term care facility residents vulnerable in the meantime. A March killed three residents, including one who was vaccinated, and was traced to an unvaccinated employee. Now, a growing number of facilities have started ; those who don't face termination.
Nursing Home Worker Goes From COVID Vaccine Skeptic to Advocate
Adelina Ramos urges coworkers to get vaccinated — and explains the lingering hesitancy to Congress
Watch: Nursing Home Worker Encourages Peers to Get VaccinatedNursing home worker Adelina Ramos identifies with colleagues who are skeptical about getting the because she once was, too. "I was, like, uh-uh. I don't trust the vaccine,” Ramos, 35, remembers thinking before it became available at Greenville Center, the Rhode Island nursing home where she's worked for five years. “I was having all those crazy thoughts that everybody else had." But the certified nursing assistant (CNA) has since become an advocate for vaccination among her coworkers. Her labor union has asked her to speak with other CNAs who . She even testified in Congress about the lack of vaccine education for her and her colleagues. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Ramos takes her advocacy seriously. She understands what's at stake, because she has witnessed scores of residents — who she says felt like family to her — fall sick and has seen two dozen of them die last year. Nationwide, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. There are roughly 550,000 CNAs working in nursing homes across the United States, providing over 90 percent of the direct patient care, according to the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA). An informal survey of CNAs conducted late last year, before the vaccine rolled out, showed 72 percent were skeptical about getting vaccinated, says Lori Porter, CEO of the NAHCA. But more recent reports show a growing acceptance. A , for instance, showed that by early March, half of health care workers in nursing homes or assisted living facilities had received a COVID-19 vaccination. But there's still a long way to go to vaccinate the rest, leaving long-term care facility residents vulnerable in the meantime. A March killed three residents, including one who was vaccinated, and was traced to an unvaccinated employee. Now, a growing number of facilities have started ; those who don't face termination.