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William Newsome and others fill out applications at a health-care job fair Wednesday at the Fredericksburg Hospitality House in Central Park. Hundreds of jobs are available. PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER WEHLING/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Nurses, therapists needed

Where will the workers come from to staff two new hospitals?

Date published: 2/9/2008

BY JIM HALL

The four hospitals in the region have job openings for 480 people.

Mary Washington Hospital, Culpeper Regional Hospital, Fauquier Health System and Potomac Hospital are advertising for all types of workers, from registered nurses (115 needed) to food-service employees (15 vacancies).

Given this job market, will the two hospitals scheduled to open next year find the help they'll need?

Probably. But hospital recruiters working at a local health-care job fair this week admit they have their fingers crossed.

"Do I worry? Of course I worry. I worry every day about this," said Kathryn Wall, executive vice president of human resources and organizational development for MediCorp Health System.

"But I feel confident in our ability to have the staff that we need," Wall added.

MediCorp, the parent company of Mary Washington Hospital, expects to open its 100-bed Stafford Hospital Center early next year.

HCA, a national chain, is also predicting a 2009 opening for its 126-bed Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center.

The two hospital companies will hire about 700 workers.

"The ball is in the employee's court. The job's are there," said Regina Falco, nurse recruiter for Potomac Hospital.

At the top of everyone's wish list are workers with advanced training and experience, those who can walk into an operating room and be useful from Day One.

Eileen Dohmann, vice president for nursing at MediCorp, refers to these slots as the "hot jobs," the nurses who work in the emergency department or intensive care unit, the pharmacists and almost any type of therapist: occupational, physical, speech and respiratory.

"It's going to be tough. We're all competing for the same people," said Lynn Feller, recruitment specialist for Fauquier Health System in Warrenton.

To land new workers, the recruiters said they'll focus on three strategies:

Persuade workers who live here to work here also.

MediCorp officials said they've surveyed local workers and found that many qualified people are commuting to higher paying jobs in the Washington area or in Richmond. But with $3-per-gallon gasoline, those jobs may be less attractive.

"Given the right salary and the right hours and the right opportunity, yes, I think some people will definitely reconsider the shuffle north," said Falco, the Potomac recruiter.

Recruit aggressively.

"In the past, recruitment has been fairly reactive," said Wall, the MediCorp official.

No longer. Now recruiters are seeking out prospects.

When Sommer Hickman, employment coordinator for Culpeper Regional Hospital, meets a job prospect who commutes, she refers them to a Web site called Culpeper jobs.com. The site allows users to calculate the cost of their daily journey. For example, full-time workers who drive 120 miles a day pay more than $13,400 a year in gasoline and wear and tear on their vehicles, according to the site. MediCorp Health System makes the same argument with a billboard at the Stafford end of the Falmouth Bridge. The message: "Break away from your northern commute." Rita Giannico is the kind of worker the hospital companies are interested in. She's been commuting north from the Fredericksburg area to a Navy job for 20 years. She attended a local health-care job fair this week in hopes of finding an administrative job closer to home. "I'm tired of riding the bus to Crystal City and having to get up at 4:30 every morning," she said. --Jim Hall Perhaps no health-care worker is more in demand than the registered nurse. The four hospitals in the region currently have more than 100 vacancies for registered nurses. At MediCorp Health System, the new nurse makes $24.75 per hour, said Bob Jensen, director of human resources and recruitment. Shift differentials and overtime are also possible. Current job openings for all types of workers at the Fredericksburg region's four hospitals Workers needed for hospitals opening in Spotsylvania and Stafford in 2009 What one hospital is offering to pay per hour for hard-to-find physical therapists Recruit aggressively from medical schools. Hire from within existing employee pool. Improve local health-care education opportunities.

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Date published: 2/9/2008

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