prairie business red river valley
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Red River Valley Business NewsTRANSCRIPT
www.prairiebizmag.com
2 PBRRV October 2011
RRV Healthcare
2Health caresystems‘creatively’findingprofessionals
4Valley Cityviews housingas assistancefor economicdevelopment
6Researchcomplexlooking forcattle costefficiencies
8Partnershipbeingdevelopedwith Africancountry
8BemidjiMedicalEquipment joinsSanfordHealthCareAccessories
Health care systems ‘creatively’finding professionalsHealth care systems in the Red River Valley are not finding it easy to recruit healthcare professionals, but are not letting that deter them from providing good servicefor those in the region.
Joel Rotvold, Executive Physician Recruiter for AltruHealth System in Grand Forks, ND, says for the past 15-20 years it has been tough recruiting medical
professionals to the Midwest. “It certainly hasn’t gotten anyeasier,” he states.He has found that primary care physicians are the
TABLE OF CONTENTS
JOEL ROTVOLDPhysician RecruiterAltru Health System
Grand Forks, ND
KATHY KENYONEmployment RecruiterAltru Health System
Grand Forks, ND
RICK GESSLEREmployment/Employee
Relations ManagerAltru Health System
Grand Forks, ND
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toughest group to recruit because of the immense opportunities in theregion. “I don’t think we are producing enough primary carephysicians,” he states. “There is more specialty care in the United Statesand we are seeing a shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas.”Lake Region Healthcare CEO Larry Schulz is seeing physicians
retiring that have been working for 35 years. “The hardest thing now torecruit in some ways is primary care especially internal medicine andpediatrics,” he states. “Fewer people are going into primary care.”Schulz believes that ongoing recruitment of primary care physicians
is a concern. Lake Region Healthcare has dealt with the issue by goingto a Hospitalist program to help physicians they don’t have to be oncall and integrating the hospital and Fergus Falls Medical Group toform Lake Region Healthcare.“This provided us opportunity to recruit additional physicians,” he
states. “There is a fairly significant start up cost when addingphysicians. We were able to help meet those financial needs.”One barrier to recruitment is location. “When people look on the
map and they see you are from west central Minnesota, they arethinking ‘North Pole’,” Schulz says. “What we find is that once we getthem here to look, we are pretty successful in recruiting. A job for aspouse might be a secondary factor.”What is also making it more difficult is that there are more baby
boomers seeking medical attention. In addition, it is estimated that 75million baby boomers will be retiring across the nation in the next fewyears. It is also estimated that 46 million people fit into the ‘X’generation category, meaning there aren’t enough to fill health careneeds. This also means that health care facilities, like Altru, will have todip into the ‘Y’ generation to supplement the number of health careprofessionals as they retire.The federal government is placing an emphasis on education in the
mid-level areas (people such as physician assistants), but Rotvold statesthere needs to be more mid-level providers in primary care. “Therearen’t going to be enough to meet the demands,” he states.Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls, MN, is one health care
system that has had some success in bringing in health careprofessionals. In the last 18 months, the system has increased itsmedical staff from 46 to a total of 70 by the end of 2011.“We’ve been able to recruit other medical professions – like physical
therapy, nursing, and lab technicians – that are difficult because of ourtraining program,” Schulz states.After the success of the education programs, Schulz explains that
they have been able to get people to stay in Fergus Falls after that firstvisit because of the quality of life. “People who like lakes and outdoors,find they are abundant here, as well as what other things thecommunity offers helps,” he says. “The biggest thing is that we getalong with each other. That is a real positive thing that people see whenthey come for a visit.”When asked what he thought health care would like in 10 years,
Schulz believes that the health care industry is going to see morephysician extenders (nurse practitioners and physician assistants)providing primary care.“We won’t be replacing physicians, but those physician extenders
will be working with the physicians,” he says.At Altru, Kathy Kenyon is one of three employment recruiters. Her
concerns are finding candidates for the most critical positions andgetting younger people to stay in the Grand Forks area and working atAltru.“They eventually come back,” Kenyon says. “It is more difficult to
find a way to get them to stay here at the beginning.”Rick Gessler, Employment/Employee Relations Manager, adds that
he wants their next job to be at Altru. “The opportunity for
4 PBRRV October 2011
RRV Healthcare
advancement is huge,” he says, adding that Altru University provides different classes andhelps employees develop core competencies and succession planning.Altru is finding that pharmacists, physical therapists, and speech pathologists are always
a challenge. To assist in finding those specialists, as well as other health care professionals,Altru has developed several different programs.Grand Forks Public Schools and Altru Health System sponsor a joint venture called the
School-to-Career program, in which high school juniors and seniors participate. Studentsare employed as nurse aides, health unit coordinators, or physical therapy and respiratorysupport staff in various patient care units. Since 2002-2003, it is estimated that 55 studentshave participated in the program of which approximately 25 are hired into permanentpositions.To address the shortage of family practice physicians, the Grand Forks Family Medicine
Residency Program and Altru developed Mission Physician summer camps for high schoolstudents. These students are introduced to the world of family medicine throughobservation of clinical office practices, health care delivery, and clinical diagnosis andtreatment procedures. Since the camps began in 2007, 238 students have participated. Asurvey of these students determined that 77 percent of them are majoring in health-relatedfields.The Altru Health System Shadowing Program allows students and adults to observe
actual work in a health care career of their choice. Each shadowing experience is two hourslong. The program started 20 years ago and more than 13,500 shadowing appointmentshave been scheduled.This is beneficial for Altru Health System. “The cost of hiring off the street is high,”
Gessler explains. “When we hire those going through these programs we know what we’regetting and they know the organization and can focus on their jobs.” RRVPB
Alan Van Ormer - [email protected]
Valley Cityviews housingas assistancefor economicdevelopment
Valley City, NDneeded housingbadly!
Since 2005, the Valley DevelopmentGroup, along with contractors in thecommunity, created options and
vacancies by building 48 new apartmentunits along I-94.The multi-family complexes were
needed because of the expansion of severalmajor businesses in the communityincluding Eagle Creek, John Deere SeedingGroup, the addition of a power plant andother business development in the region.“There was optimism that the economy
would continue to grow,” explains JenniferFeist, Director of Development, ValleyDevelopment Group. “It impactedeconomic development because ifemployees couldn’t find decent housing jobswould be lost.”The multi-family housing incentive
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program awards developers $5,000 per unitfor new construction as a 1 percent loan for10 years with a balloon payment of $5,000per unit after those 10 years.The Valley Development Group used a
portion of the economic development fundsfrom a 1 percent sales tax to provide cashincentives to developers. To date, two localdevelopment groups have used funds to buildthe apartments.Other units have been renovated and
upgraded, but there are still housing unitsthat need to be upgraded in the community.Feist says it was a strategic move on the
part of the economic development group.“We wanted to make sure that companiesdidn’t stop growing,” she explains. “Themarket is substantially different than Fargoand Jamestown. We needed to do somethingto wet the appetites of the developers.”Feist says the Development Corporation
has not been involved in financing housingprograms in the past. “We really struggled onhow to do this,” she adds. “We had to makesure it was an acceptable risk for thecorporation.”If new housing is needed, it will depend
on job creation. “There are a couple ofprojects on the burner that could open moregrowth,” Feist states. “It is something wemonitor to see if it is something we need todo.” RRVPB
Alan Van Ormer [email protected]
“Yep!...This wasreally me65 lbs.*
ago!”-Eric H., Fargo, ND
Burchill Housing, Valley City
RRV Research
6 PBRRV October 2011
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Let’s get down to business.
Research complex looking forcattle cost efficiencies
PBRRV 7
North Dakota State University cattle researchers believe that feedefficiencies of 10 percent could mean a savings to the industry ofaround $30-$40 per cow.
There is a lot of potential savings for individuals withthe research we are conducting,” states Greg Lardy,Professor in the Animal Science department at
NDSU in Fargo, ND.The NDSU Beef Cattle Research Complex started
researching to find cost efficiencies for feeding cattle. Thefacility, located on the intersection of I-29 and 19thAvenue on the southwest side of the road, includes a cattlecomplex with a feeding area, handling area and calvingpens, as well as an office and laboratory area. It alsoincludes a feed storage and mixing area for the cattle.Research will include nutrition, reproductive
physiology, genomics, management and production,preharvest food safety, economics, animal behavior,environmental management, nutrient management, andmeat science and carcass quality.The facility was constructed using a combination of
state and federal dollars totaling more than $3 million.The facility opened in June and can house almost 200
head of cattle.During the first year of operation, the researchers are
studying cow herd nutrition using distiller’s grain as acost-saving strategy. In addition, research is beingconducted on different levels of forage diets and theimpact of various supplements and how it affectsefficiency and growth of the cattle.Trent Gilbery, Facilities Manager at the complex,
explains that all of the research being conducted relates tofeeding cattle and improving feed efficiency to help withthe high cost of feed for producers.“This information allows us to help producers,” he
states.Lardy adds now that corn prices have almost tripled
over the past few years, now it is even more important thatresearch data helps producers understand the costs ofdoing business. RRVPB
Alan Van Ormer - [email protected]
“
Oct. 7,1896Dow Jonesbeganreporting anaverage ofthe prices of12 industrialstocks in theWall StreetJournal onthis day.
ON THISDATE
RRV News
8 PBRRV October 2011
Partnership being developed with African country
A Farm Channel partnership is being developed between Praxis Africa, a registered NGO in Ghana, PraxisStrategy Group, a United States based economic development consulting firm, and AdFarm, an agriculturalmarketing and communications firm with offices in the United States and Canada.
Praxis Strategy Group co-founder, President and CEODelore Zimmerman says the Farm Channel will linkGhana farmers with buyer markets in the Red River
Valley Corridor. In addition, companies in the Red RiverValley will be selling machinery over in the West Africanation.In addition, the Farm Channel will be complemented
by the National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO,) anational agricultural trade event that brings domestic andinternational companies to present new technologies,trends in agricultural marketing, farm businessmanagement, and production practices.The 2011 event is slated for Oct. 7-16 in Accra, Ghana
and organizers hope to heighten interest in farmmachinery and equipment, agricultural inputs, farm andagribusiness services, and agricultural commodities andvalue-added products.Ghana is different than many agriculture communities
in the Red River Valley. For example, multiple farmersshare tractors and have not quantified an ag market,Zimmerman says.“Ghana has tremendous resources in land and water,”
says Zimmerman, who has made several trips to Ghanasince 2008 to develop this partnership. “Only four percentof the country has irrigation and there is capacity to usemore.”Zimmerman thinks this is a workable partnership. “We
are planning in investing in farms over there,” he states.“We intend to work with a half dozen farms to help thembuild their operations.”For the Red River Valley, Zimmerman believes this
partnership will help grow the ag economy and createpossible investments for machinery companies. “There isjust a tremendous need for services in Ghana,” he says.Ghana is considered to be one of the top 10 fastest
growing economies in the world between 2011 and 2015.Accounting for approximately 42 percent of the nation’sgross domestic product and 54 percent of its labor force,agriculture is the driving force behind the growingeconomy, according to a press release from the threegroups. Farmers grow a diverse mix of crops includingcocoa, cassava, citrus, pineapple, palm oil, and mangos.RRVPB
Alan Van Ormer - [email protected]
This merger will allow us to expand services andextend hours to better serve customers,” says RussNylander, Executive Director, Sanford HealthCare
Accessories. “The real convenience for customers is thatthey’ll be able to access all our services from bothcompanies at one location. This merger will offer the sameproduct, same service and same staff our customers areused to plus more. We are looking forward to expanding.”The new combined HealthCare Accessories will be
located at 1705 Anne St. NW, Suite 1 in Bemidji. BemidjiMedical Equipment will relocate from its Pine RidgeAvenue location but will continue to run non-customerrelated services out of that office.“Not only is this merger a benefit to the customers,”
says Gary Johnson, Director, HealthCare AccessoriesBemidji, “it is also a positive move for our employees as itwill offer growth opportunity and employment stability.”Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota, inclusive of
Sanford Bemidji, has more than 1,450 employees, 75doctors and 118 beds and is part of the Sanford Healthsystem based in Fargo, ND and Sioux Falls, SD. Sanford isthe largest, rural, not-for-profit health care system in thenation with a presence in 111 communities in eight states.Sanford Health includes 32 hospitals and more than
900 physicians in 70 specialty areas of medicine. Withmore than 20,000 employees, Sanford is the largestemployer in North and South Dakota. The system isexperiencing dynamic growth and development inconjunction with Denny Sanford’s $400 million gift in2007, the largest gift ever to a health care organization inAmerica. This gift is making possible the implementationof the several initiatives including global children’s clinics,multiple research centers and finding a cure for type 1diabetes. For more information, visit sanfordhealth.org.RRVPB
Bemidji Medical Equipment joins Sanford HealthCare Accessories
Bemidji Medical Equipment and Sanford HealthCare Accessories have merged as one team,operating under the name of Sanford Health HealthCare Accessories.
“