December 2006
Medical Community Highlighting Area's Benefits
The International Falls medical community, International Falls Clinic and Falls Memorial Hospital (FMH), have begun an aggressive recruiting campaign for current healthcare openings. Sheila Hart, International Falls Clinic Administrator, along with Sage Hemstad, FMH Director of Communications, have partnered to bring awareness to the benefits of working in a rural community.
"We want to capitalize on what makes this place special and unique," said Hart of their campaign. Posters, flyers, advertising space and over 25,000 direct mail pieces have been sent out nationwide touting the area's lakes, relaxed lifestyle and outdoors access. Hart and Hemstad have gotten quite creative with their taglines, looking to hook candidates on anything from fishing, ("Looking for docs not afraid to use leaches…") and boating ("200,000 acre break room" - in reference to Rainy Lake) to the wildlife enthusiast ("Practice where you play" - showing Voyagers National Park).
"We know that people have to enjoy the lifestyle we can provide to be successful long-term in our community… We're looking for the professional that wants to balance their work with recreational activities." With this profile in mind, Hart and her team have begun a direct, targeted recruitment campaign.
Recruiting has become a community effort and the medical community partnered with nearly 20 local leaders in August to discuss strategies, networking options and other avenues to spread the word about the current medical openings. Community participants included representatives from KEDA, I.Falls Chamber of Commerce, Rainy Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, and a number of other business owners and community leaders. "It's wonderful to be part of a community that will join and work together towards the greater good… (healthcare) impacts our entire community," said Christa Heibel, owner of CH Consulting and participant in the community meeting.
International Falls Clinic and Falls Memorial Hospital have also become sponsors of KEDA's Your Ticket Home campaign and donated funds for the alumni meetings held in the Twin Cities this fall. "We're excited about our partnership as we have the same goals - to bring people and business into our area, and the same ideas about how to get them here - attract them with the kind of life that our county can offer," said Paul Nevanen, the Director of KEDA.
If you, or anyone you know, is currently looking for position in the medical field, and would like more information on the opportunities available in International Falls, more information at
www.yourtickethome.biz. Current medical openings include: (2) family practice physicians; (1) general surgeon; (2) nurse practitioners; (1) MT/MLT; (1) coder/transcriptionist; and (1) pharmacist.
