Images courtesy of Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
A new study by the Rural Health Information Hub, which is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, shows most of the Twin Lakes Area is dealing with a shortage of healthcare professionals. An article on the agency’s website discusses the difficulty rural hospitals are having in hiring doctors, technicians and nurses.
The study finds each county in north central Arkansas and southern Missouri, with the exception of Marion and Boone counties, have a medical professional shortage in the entire county. Marion and Boone counties have shortages in part of each county.
Baxter Health in Mountain Home has been dealing with the hiring problems in recent years, but the hospital is currently at its largest number of employees ever with 2,065.
Baxter Health Senior Human Resources Manager Natalie Amato says the medical profession changed drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic and their recruiting practices have had to change as well.
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Amato says the local medical facility has had to refresh their pay scale and benefits package as well.
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She says the hospital is also offering scholarships to employees to continue their education and recruiting future employees from local high schools and Arkansas State University.
Despite those measures, Amato says Baxter Health, like many hospitals across the country, still has positions they are trying to fill.
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Retirement is another obstacle the local hospital has been dealing with.
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The hospital’s senior HR manager says another problem was something they had no control over.
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Amato says Baxter Health last year, when struggling to fill registered nurse positions, worked with a company to hire 14 international nurses. A nurse recruiter has visited the Philippines, with the company, to recruit more nurses and the hospital plans on adding at least 25 more international nurses over the next two years.
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