The Fort Dodge hospital went from offering a retirement incentive package to nurses in 2019 to ramping up its recruitment and retention efforts in 2020 and 2021.

“In 2019, we offered a generous early retirement package because we had an opportunity to reduce staffing,” said Shannon McQuillen, vice president of people excellence for UnityPoint Health — Fort Dodge. “We had a number of individuals who took advantage of that.”

However, McQuillen said there were a number of nurses who could have retired in 2019, but chose not to accept the package. Then in 2020, when the package was not offered, many of those same nurses chose to retire anyway.

“We had the same number of people retire with the early retirement package in 2019 as we did in 2020,” McQuillen said. “There was no incentive to retire in 2020. They were offered that package in 2019 and did not take it and then retired in 2020.”

McQuillen attributes that to the added stress health care workers have been dealing with since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID definitely plays a role in that,” she said. “It (COVID) does add complexity and stress that we didn’t have before. We have seen that in other professions such as teachers and other individuals who said, ‘I just decided with everything going on with this I think I’m ready to retire. I wasn’t before, but now I am.'”

McQuilen said if the hospital “had a crystal ball,” the package probably wouldn’t have been offered.

She also said the fact that the Baby Boomer generation is at retirement age has led to a decrease in workers.

“They are all around retirement age so we are seeing a lot of individuals retire and we just don’t have the workforce to replenish that generation,” McQuillen said.

A vast majority of hospitals throughout the country are experiencing some kind of a shortage in health care workers. McQuillen, who has been with the hospital for almost 16 years, said UnityPoint is no different.

“We are experiencing it,” she said. “We are using the highest number of traveling nurses that I’ve ever known us to use in my time here.”

Traveling nurses are employed by different agencies throughout the country. Hospitals will reach out to those agencies for specific assignments.

“You pay a lot higher rate, but it meets an immediate need,” McQuillen said. “We didn’t used to use travelers very often. It was very infrequent and now all of health care is using travelers and even those can be hard to get. In the peak of COVID, Gov. Reynolds worked to secure an agency to supply travel nurses to hospitals across Iowa to support our patient needs. That was super helpful.”

Another potential stumbling block in the area of workforce for UnityPoint is the requirement for all employees to be vaccinated against the cornavirus. Exceptions will be allowed for medical or religious reasons. Pregnant employees will be encouraged to get the vaccine, but a temporary deferral is available.

Employees have until Oct. 1 to submit their request for an exemption or deferral, McQuillen said.

Employees are expected to be vaccinated by Nov. 1.

“If they choose not to then they can voluntarily leave the organization or be terminated,” McQuillen said. “We are requiring it.”

Kari Jones, UnityPoint Health –Fort Dodge chief nursing executive, said while staffing is a continuous challenge, the hospital has been able to maintain.

“We are proud to report that we have had enough nurses to safely staff our units,” Jones said.

Still, the market remains competitive. There are currently 34 registered nurse openings at the hospital.

“It’s also a super competitive market because everyone is short,” McQuillen said. “Every person that hires nurses is competing against each other right now — more so than we ever have before.”

The hospital’s partnerships with area community colleges like Iowa Central Community College have proven extremely valuable over time.

“Other parts of the country had been experiencing a shortage in years prior to 2020,” McQuillen said. “We had been fortunate with our partnership with Iowa Central, we weren’t experiencing the shortage. They do a lot of clinical rotations with us. It helps us recruit those students to our organization. That strong partnership with Iowa Central and having that (nursing) program right by us has definitely helped.”

Showing current employees how much they are appreciated is another key to keeping good help.

“Our staff does amazing work every day,” Jones said. “It’s all about teamwork.”

According to Jones, there’s a minimum of 60 nurses who work during the day on any given day at Trinity Regional Medical Center. Those nurses only include the ones providing direct patient care.

McQuillen said the hospital will continue to look at additional incentives for current staff and for those the hospital tries to recruit.

“Showing them how much they matter,” McQuillen said. “We value them as a people and show them how valuable they are to our organization.”

Leah Glasgo, president and CEO of UnityPoint Health — Fort Dodge, encourages anyone interested in health care to consider it as a career option.

“Working in health care is a very rewarding career path,” Glasgo said. “There are so many opportunities for growth and development and the impact you can have on your friends, neighbors and community is very meaningful. I encourage anyone considering health care as a career to learn more about the many, many opportunities.”

Jones shares that sentiment.

“Taking care of patients is incredibly rewarding,” Jones added.