MOULTRIE – The local healthcare field was not exempt from experiencing a workforce shortage, according to local healthcare officials.

Colquitt Regional Medical Center CEO and President Jim Matney previously presented the hospital’s community update, which named the nurse staff shortage as its sole challenge within the healthcare workforce.

The Observer spoke with Dawn Johns, the vice president of human resources at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, June 15 about the hospital’s current workforce challenges and addressing methods. Johns deemed the COVID-19 pandemic as the core of the workforce staffing shortage.

“It’s really just a true example of supply and demand. During the pandemic, the demand was so high, obviously, because of the number of people needing to care, not only the number, but then the intensity of care that was needed. That put a strain on most healthcare facilities,” Johns explained during the phone interview.

Most hospitals do not operate with “extra” or standby personnel, so the demand for nursing staff increased the market competition for staffing. More nursing staff began transitioning into travel nurses, which are credentialed nurses who agree to work temporary assignments. Colquitt Regional did experience a reduction in staff due to this matter.

“We did have staff that left bedside nursing when we needed bedside nursing. We had staff that left to go, maybe work in a neighboring community that they could easily drive to from their home, but get paid three and four times the amount of money that they could in their normal jobs. So that was very tempting to a lot of people,” she said.

Although the hospital saw a decrease in staff, they did not have to use agency nursing, which was uncommon at the time. Facilities that did use agency nurses found their costs remained higher as a result of adjusting to a higher pay scale, Johns said.

Colquitt Regional implemented several efforts to maintain and improve employee engagement and communications among staff during the pandemic such as frequently sending emails explaining the COVID-19 updates, supply statuses and bed vacancies. Their efforts were difficult because of the physical limitations as they intended to remain as their staff’s preferred employer.

Approximately 30% of the Colquitt Regional Medical Center’s staff lives outside of the county.

“That’s the number that we’ve seen continue to grow which means that they choose to come to work here,” she said.

They also extended a portion of their workforce to remote work while establishing telehealth clinic services.

In 2021, all Colquitt Regional and Sterling Physician Group employee pay rates increased by six percent. The pay adjustment was to help keep the hospital competitive in the job market.

They also saw a major turnover in support staff such as receptionists, janitorial services, and cafeteria workers.

“We have had more turnover in those areas than I can remember in 20 years,” Johns said. “It’s because of the job market … [that] there are a lot of jobs available. Inflation has driven rates up so much across the board in the job market that for us to compete with those rates has been difficult.”

During Johns’ career, she’s witnessed an evergoing nursing shortage that varies with the job market. Colquitt Regional had about 90 position openings as of June 15. She deemed the community creating a pipeline throughout education as the most successful model to developing the local healthcare workforce.

An example she used was Colquitt Regional committing to funding a faculty member at Southern Regional Technical College so they can begin an echo tech program. The hospital has no applicants in that area.

“The good thing is that as a partnership between Southern Regional and Colquitt Regional, we now can begin to get those people ready and get them trained to be an echo tech. That’s a new career opportunity for someone and it also gives us a supply. We’ve done that, in other cases like, we do that in nursing,” she said. “We’re just trying to support every potential area college that we can to get those students to us.”

The hospital has established CNA (certified nursing assistants) and CMA (certified medical assistants) programs and reestablished the LPN (licensed practical nurses) program through partnerships with Colquitt County High School and SRTC.

In September 2022, the hospital broke ground on its new educational services building.

The new two-story facility will boast over 39,000 square feet of space and will be located on the north side of the Colquitt Regional campus, behind Vereen Rehabilitation Center.

The first floor will have an Education wing and an auditorium for Colquitt Regional. Nursing staff will get hands-on experience at the new facility in the four simulation centers. The second floor will house the Georgia South Family Medicine and Psychiatric residency programs.

“It would just be surprising to you how many students we might have on campus on any one day,” Johns said.

The hospital offers externships to nursing students, scholarships, tuition reimbursements and student loan repayments. It recruits more graduates from ABAC and SRTC than others, but it does also receive students from Valdosta State University, Albany State University and other surrounding colleges.