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OPPORTUNITIESBy Kristine HenkeGOOD HELP IS HARD TO COME BY.This is something many small, ruralclinics in North Dakota find to be tootrue. Rural hospitals and clinics don’tfind bad help, but it can be a strugglefor them to find any help at all. NorthDakota is projected to have a shortageof about 210 physicians by 2025, andworkforce shortages are a challenge forthe entire health care system. Althoughthere are needs everywhere, shortagesare likely to be most severe in rural areas.Jody Atkinson, a fighter for ruralhealth care, has been working inBottineau, N.D., for the past 25 years.She started at St. Andrew’s HealthCenter as an administrative assistant,and has since worn many hats.Working her way up through humanresources and finances, she is nowpresident and CEO, and she knowsfirsthand how difficult it can be tomaintain the continuum of care in arural health care setting.“It seems as though we have nevernot been recruiting,” said Atkinson. St.Andrew’s has been anything if notcreative. Working with contingencyfirms, sending out countless mailings,drafting e-mails, and even venturing30 NORTH DAKOTA MEDICINE Holiday 2010
into online advertising have all beenavenues Atkinson has explored.What’s a CEO to do? St. Andrew’s,like many other rural health carefacilities in the state, has formed arecruitment team to help in the processof employing providers. This teamreaches far from the walls of thehospital. Working with the city’seconomic development department andchamber of commerce when a potentialprovider visits Bottineau, they ultimatelytry and give them a taste of what livingin small town North Dakota is all about.“We try and be strategic in whatinterests the potential candidate has,”said Atkinson. “We had a gentlemanwho came and was big into hunting.Who better to sit and have dinner withhim than some of our town’s very ownhunting enthusiasts?”Atkinson said the biggest key tosuccessful recruitment is to find theright fit. St. Andrew’s most recentaddition is Dr. Jessica Skjolden, a nativeof Bottineau. Atkinson feels part of theirsuccess with bringing Skjolden onboard was that she grew up in a ruralcommunity and has family ties to thearea. For Skjolden, the experience hasbeen “a little bit different. I’m not onethat’s ever wanted to have a lot ofattention, but they kind of make a bigdeal of you when you come to town.But, I know they are excited to haveanother provider.”Skjolden is excited to be at St.Andrew’s. “When I started medicalschool, I was deciding between familymedicine or internal medicine, but Iwas fairly certain I wanted to end up inrural North Dakota,” said Skjolden. Shealso shared that she hasn’t provided anyconsults in the grocery line—yet.Skjolden recommends students who areinterested in working in a smallcommunity do a rotation there, so theyget a taste of what it would be like.Some great opportunities for studentsand residents to have this experienceare the Don Breen and SEARCH(Student/Resident Experiences andRotations in Community Health)programs.It can be an uphill battle forhospitals in North Dakota, but whenthere is success like St. Andrew’s hasrecently seen, they recommendcelebrating with more than cake andcoffee. Thinking outside the box, Atkinsonand her team welcomed their newdoctor back to Bottineau by having aget-together in a city park. A picnicmight have been nice, but they decidedkaraoke and an inflatable bouncy castlefor the children was a bit moreappropriate. Again, it was the communitycoming together, like small towns do,to welcome someone they put a lot oftime and energy into connecting with.After the castle was deflated andthe karaoke unplugged, the workcarries on, a story that hits close tohome for many rural health carefacilities. Atkinson works to make sureSt. Andrew’s name is kept out there.She listens to her colleagues and staysas competitive as she can. When askedwhat it feels like, Atkinson laughs andsays, “It is a huge sense of relief! But Ialways keep the question in the back ofmy mind: are we really donerecruiting?” For her, keeping thoseproviders they have worked so hard foris just as important, if not more so, thanfinding them in the first place. But fornow at least, she can sleep easyknowing the people of Bottineau aregetting local care they can rely on.Now that Skjolden is in a NorthDakota community seeing patients, shesays “It feels like I’ve been doing this along time already. You get rollingseeing patients and it’s exactly whatyou want to be doing, and it’s great.I’m really loving it so far.”The Center for Rural Health’s stateappropriatedworkforce initiative canassist you if you are interested in apractice opportunity in North Dakota.We offer compatible matching services,information on loan repaymentprograms, and recruitment assistancefor facilities and providers.For more information on ourservices, including information on theDon Breen and SEARCH programs,please contact Aaron Ortiz, workforcespecialist, at aaron.ortiz@med.und.eduor (701) 777-6788.Aaron OritzNORTH DAKOTA MEDICINE Holiday 2010 31
Page 1 and 2: 2009-2010 Donor IssueJudy DeMersStu
Page 3 and 4: 1014181216FEATURESJudy DeMers—Stu
Page 5 and 6: • Research funding continues togr
Page 7 and 8: New assistant deans named at UND Sc
Page 9 and 10: McHugo named director ofPhysician A
Page 11 and 12: in going through medical school and
Page 13 and 14: experimental surgery,” Antonenko
Page 15 and 16: “We’re dramatically outperformi
Page 17 and 18: Cell Biology; Biochemistry and Mole
Page 19 and 20: After earning his master’s, Hart
Page 21 and 22: medicine in addition to providingme
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Page 25 and 26: and the effectiveness of communicat
Page 27 and 28: ALUMNI NOTES’10s ’00sJudy Ander
Page 29: ALUMNI NOTESStan Sateren, BS Med
Page 33 and 34: IN MEMORIAMMarilyn J. Thibeault, BS
Page 35 and 36: PARTING SHOTSOn Saturday, October 2

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