When Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort CEO LuAnn Pappas is reached Friday morning by phone, she admits to being worried about Tropical Storm Ida slamming into the Mississippi coastline.
But she’s simultaneously relieved that another dark cloud hanging over the D’Iberville casino will have dissipated by noon. That’s when Scarlet Pearl was slated to become the first casino in the U.S. with 100% of its employees to have received at least one vaccine shot.
“I can’t even put into words without getting emotional how proud I am of this entire team here at Scarlett Pearl,” Pappas says. “From the bottom of my heart, I’ll say it forever.”
Pappas admits the decision to attempt to get Scarlet Pearl’s staff vaccinated was not easy. But due to a recent spike in COVID cases – the Mississippi Department of Health Friday reports 4,041 new cases as of 3 p.m. on Thursday – Pappas and Scarlet Pearl administrators were determined to act.
“We care about our associates, their families and our guests in the communities that we live and work in,” Pappas says. “We realized that this second wave, early on, was going to be pretty bad, but we underestimated exactly how bad it was in Mississippi. We decided that as leaders we had to set an example.”
Pappas admits said the casino received some public comments “that weren’t so nice.”
“But we were steadfast in our belief that’s what we needed to do as good corporate citizens in our very small community that is struggling right now,” she says.
Vaccinations started with the executive team, supervisors, and managers before the rest of the resort’s employees were approached. Of Scarlet Pearl’s 886 employees, 98% initially agreed to be vaccinated.
Those who were reluctant to get to the shots were approached by managers before Pappas became personally involved. She says that not a single employee was adamantly against getting vaccinated.
“They just needed the facts,” Pappas says. “We were able, by personally reaching out to people, sometimes multiple times, to explain what’s happening and in particular how bad it is down here, and the stress and the strain we’re putting on hospitals, not to mention young children and families.”
Since the beginning of August, 11,766 K-12 students in Mississippi have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the most recent report issued August 20.
Every supervisor and hourly associate working at the casino was given a $300 bonus after getting the first shot. Scarlet Pearl donated $18,000 to the city of D’Iberville for vaccinations for city workers, and gave $50,000 to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation for an incentive program to encourage people in the region to get vaccinated.
And Friday at 12:30 p.m., Scarlet Pearl employees were slated to receive an additional $100 bonus. Another $150,000 is earmarked for giveaways for vaccinated guests.
“It’s always been our mission to care more about our community than we do ourselves,” Pappas says. “It’s not just about profit. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t apologize for being a for-profit business, but we will never take that over not caring about our employees and the communities that we live and work in.”
