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Healthcare Jobfair attracts about 500 hopefuls to the Fredericksburg Hospitality House & Conference Center on Wednesday Date published: 2/6/2009
BY CATHY JETT
For Pam Payne of Orange County, the search for a shorter commute began with a 45-minute wait on Wednesday. She was one of dozens of job hunters who lined up to talk to an HCA Virginia Health System representative at the Healthcare Jobfair held at the Fredericksburg Hospitality House & Conference Center. "Right now, I work for a doctors group in Woodbridge in billing and finance," Payne said. "It's 49 miles from my home and sometimes it takes an hour to get there." If she could get a job at the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, which HCA plans to open in the spring of 2010, her commute would be cut in half, she said. About 500 people, from newly minted medical assistants to experienced nurses to accounting types to those seeking management positions, turned out for the fair. It was the third such specialized job-hunting opportunity sponsored by The Free Lance-Star since last February. Many, like Payne, were looking for good-paying jobs closer to home. Others in such fields as banking were hoping to find more secure jobs during the current economic downturn. The demand for people with medical skills is booming in the Fredericksburg area. Besides HCA, other job fair participants included MediCorp Health System, the parent company of Mary Washington Hospital. It will open its Stafford Hospital Center this month on U.S. 1 near the county courthouse. Job fair attendee Nicole Breeden, who just got her degree as a medical assistant from Medical Careers Institute in Newport News, said she moved to Stafford specifically because of jobs. "I was living in Gloucester," she said, "and I wasn't finding anything." Understandably, HCA and MediCorp were the most popular of the 13 employers and educational institutions that took part. Both attracted long lines of applicants in the Hospitality Center's ballroom. At one point the line for HCA stretched out the door and into the hall. Nancy Littlefield, chief nursing officer for the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, said she was pleased with the caliber of applicants she met and was thrilled that two people stood in line just to tell her how happy they were that HCA is coming here.
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