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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2019)
Wednesday, June 26, 2019 PROGRESS SPECIAL SECTION East Oregonian/Hermiston Herald C7 Photo contributed by Good Shepherd Medical Center Good Shepherd Medical Center’s recently expanded medical plaza helps attract health care professionals to the Hermiston facility. Local hospitals buck a trend St. Anthony and Good Shepherd find success recruiting health care providers to area By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian UMATILLA COUNTY — Shortages of doctors and other health professionals have plagued rural America for a while. Twenty percent of us live in rural America, yet only 9% of the nation’s doctors practice there. Rural hospitals fight to attract physicians willing to give less-populated locales a chance. However, two hospitals — Pendleton’s St. Anthony Hospital and Hermiston’s Good Shepherd Medical Center — say vigorous recruiting efforts are increasingly bearing fruit. “Most physicians want to practice in an urban setting,” said Harry Geller, CEO of St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton. “It’s supply and demand. We have to be very aggressive.” The courting process is exten- sive and requires competitive packages with compensation that may top urban hospital salaries and include student loan repay- ment. Recruiters woo spouses, too. “A very important decid- ing point is the spouse,” Geller said. “Fifty-one percent of any recruitment is dependent on that spouse.” Both Good Shepherd and St. Anthony say impressive facilities are part of their success. Good Shepherd added 33,000 square feet to its north wing med- ical plaza for a women’s clinic and other expanded services and ren- ovated other areas, including the day surgery center. St. Anthony opened a streamlined, state-of- the-art $70 million medical cen- ter in 2013 to replace a sprawling older hospital. For both, tech- nology and ambience help in the quest to draw providers. “The new hospital is a big plus, a wonderful tool,” said St. Anthony recruiter Mary Green. St. Anthony has recruited a net 10 doctors and six nurse prac- titioners in the past 10 years. Good Shepherd also is enjoying an influx. “We’ve had quite a bit of suc- Staff photo by Kathy Aney St. Anthony Hospital’s $70 million facility, opened in 2013, helps in recruiting health care professionals to the facility. Staff photo by Kathy Aney St. Anthony Hospital’s $70 million facility opened in 2013 helps in re- cruiting health care professionals. cess in the past couple of years,” said Good Shepherd spokesman Nick Bejarano. Bejarano ticked off the names and specialties of recently recruited providers. The group includes a family heath physi- cian, chiropractor, pediatrician who specializes in pediatric gas- tric surgery, three nurse practi- tioners and an emergency depart- ment director. The hospital also hired Dr. Robert McCauley to direct the emergency department. Many of the providers hailed from metro areas, such as Seattle, Las Vegas and Omaha. “The majority we hired were from urban areas,” Bejarano said. He said most of the battle is coaxing prospective hires to come to town. “It’s getting them to give us a chance during the recruitment process,” Bejarano said. “When they get here, they are pretty much blown away.” Once in Hermiston, he said, they are wowed by the infrastruc- ture, the hospital’s team approach and the community. Many can envision themselves practic- ing in Hermiston after inspect- ing the hospital and the town. Three internists and a psychia- trist will join the hospital in the next two weeks. An orthopedic surgeon from Boston will arrive in October. Green, the St. Anthony recruiter, spends a lot of time outside the hospital as well as in with her prospective hires. She addresses any concerns and ques- tions that arise. “Transparency is first and foremost,” Green said. She hooks them up with who- ever they want to meet in the com- munity and drives them around to schools, the arts center, the Pend- leton UAS Range, Tamastslikt Cultural Institute or wherever else they want to explore. On one trip, she drove 212 miles in a cir- cuit that included Elgin, McKay Reservoir and a ski area. “We went to the Tri-Cities,” she said. “We went up on the mountain.” Bob Duehmig, president of the Oregon Rural Health Asso- ciation, gets around to many of the state’s hospitals. He praised both facilities for their recruiting strategies. About Good Shepherd, Dueh- mig said, “They make it a con- certed team effort to recruit. The first impression is that you’re part of a team and we’re here to sup- port you.” He also extolled St. Antho- ny’s mentorship program for new nurses who are paired with men- tors through the first year. “They do a really good job attracting and keeping nurses,” Duehmig said. “St. Anthony is looking at the larger picture.” Geller said his hospital has retained 100% of the nurses hired last spring. St. Anthony and Good Shep- herd also partner to fund one nursing instructor position at Blue Mountain Community Col- lege as a local supplier of nurses. The two Umatilla County hos- pitals may be bucking a national trend. The NPR Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Report, released in May, reports that some other rural hospitals are in trouble. Closures are a problem in cer- tain rural communities. Accord- ing to the report, “almost one in 10 rural Americans say hos- pitals in their local community have closed down in the past few years.” Thank you to our clients for the continued confidence and support of our firm. 495 E. Main, Hermiston (541) 567-5215
