Covid vaccinated St. John's Hospital employee wins car

Who does not want a new car? That was what St. John’s Episcopal Hospital officials thought as a way to incentivize employees to get the Covid vaccine and it worked.

The Far Rockaway hospital surpassed the reported overall Queens County hospital worker Covid-19 vaccination percentage of 67 percent, and an employee was awarded a red 2021 Honda Civic on Aug. 10.

“This is about the safety of our employees, the safety of our families and our patients and their families, we encourage people to get vaccinated and be safe,” said St. John’s CEO Jerry Walsh. “We want to do everything we can to continue to keep our staff and community safe.”

The month-long incentive program had vaccinated staff were automatically entered into a raffle to win a new car. Hospital officials said that the Far Rockaway zip code of 11691 has the lowest percentage of those vaccinated against Covid in New York City, and was the second deadliest zip code at the pandemic’s height.

Dr. Christopher Parker, the hospital’s chief operating officer, was determined to increase the percentage of inoculated employees. “Over the last year and a half, we have been really working hard in trying to make this a safe environment for everyone,” he said. “One way to accomplish that is to ensure that as many of our employees as possible get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Far Rockaway is home to one of the lowest vaccination rates in New York City, and only 39 percent of who live in the Rockaways have received their vaccination. About 27 percent of our employees live in Far Rockaway so more of our employees and their families can get vaccinated.”

Tom Melillo, the director of marketing and strategic planning for St John’s, said the car raffle has worked out perfectly for the employees because the vaccination numbers continue to rise.

“Currently this hospital’s staff vaccination rate is above the 67 percent city wide of all hospital staffs in New York City,” he said. “We wanted to improve the numbers and since we incentivized the staff, we have seen a significant increase in the amount of people who are vaccinated.” As of press time, more than 1,500 St. John’s employees are vaccinated.

Because Far Rockaway was so hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic last year and had one of the lowest vaccination rates in New York City this year, Parker said it was critical that staff members who were hesitant about receiving the vaccination be motivated to get vaccinated.

“Far Rockaway was the second deadliest zip code during the pandemic back in last March and April, so we need to get as many people as vaccinated as possible,” he said. “Early last month we decided to provide an incentive to get more of a hesitant employee to take the vaccine and I happy to say after implanting the car raffle we have got over 70 percent of our employees vaccinated.”

Using money from the federal Cares Act, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital bought the Honda Civic at Honda City in Levittown. Proving that you have to be in it to win it, Chidoziri Banks, a patient care technician and Rockaway resident won the car. As a night shift employee, Banks was not present. Her supervisor, Angela Scweitzer, accepted the prize on Banks’s behalf.

“This program was lovely because it was a great incentive to influence staff to get the vaccine,” Banks later stated in a news release. “I recovered from Covid-19 and it was difficult. I encourage you to protect yourself and your loved ones by getting the vaccine if you are eligible.”