Community hires record numbers of nurses
Gerri Fisher’s Community Regional Medical Center colleagues and the way they work as a caring team convinced the registered nurse to give up her traveling life. After eight years working on short-term contracts at hospitals up and down the state, the Ohio native says she found what felt like family in the emergency department.
“When you graduate from nursing school, you have ideas about how it will be and it's all sugar-coated,” she says. “It isn't all wonderful when you get out on that first job. But it is here with everyone working together. That's what I think we have at Community – we have what you think nursing is supposed to be like.”
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| In the past few months more than 45 traveler nurses have committed long-term to Community, including Diana Rae Encinias (left), Edward "Waki" Faagai (center) and Gerri Fisher. |
Julie Adair, who directs recruitment efforts for the Valley’s largest private employer, expects to hire even more nurses in the coming months as expansion continues at Community hospitals.
Community Regional added more than 100 beds over the past year and has started construction on a new Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit with 55 more beds. Clovis Community Medical Center starts construction this fall on a new outpatient care facility with four new operating rooms and associated pre-operative, post-operative and recovery areas. And Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital is expected to finish construction this September on two advanced-technology, minimally-invasive operating suites.
Adair says while part of the spike in hiring is due to expansion, much of it has to do with improvements in pay, benefits and the opportunities for mentoring and advancement at Community’s hospitals.
Fisher and two of her co-workers, travelers who made the switch to long-term employees, say while those things did influence their decision what really cinched it was the people at Community.
“I stayed because of the people,” says Diana Rae Encinias, who was a registered nurse in New Mexico 15 years before seeking new challenges in short-term contracts at various California hospitals. She signed on at Community Regional this winter and works as a re-profusion nurse, one of the specialized first responders to patients who show signs of stroke or heart attack.
“The emergency department administration made it easy to be loyal to Community,” Encinias says. “We get great incentives to sign on. But after a certain point, what we do isn’t about the money. It’s about who you work with and what you do.”
Registered nurse Edward “Waki” Faagai says he developed a bond with the emergency room team while working as a traveler. “The people, the doctors, the administration is why I came back permanently.
“I felt at home here,” added Faagai, who grew up in Hawaii and worked in hospitals in four different states. But there were certainly other reasons to join the Community team long-term: “I signed on for the stability you get on top of the great benefits Community has to offer, with paid vacations and pensions. Plus the flexible schedule enables me to pursue my quest to become an emergency medicine doctor at Community someday.”
All three say, even a crazy, hectic day in one of the state’s busiest emergency rooms is fun because of their co-workers and knowing they make a difference for Valley residents.
“I decided to come on full time, because I wanted to work somewhere where it really is about patient care,” sums up Fisher.
This story was reported by Erin Kennedy. She can be reached at ekennedy@communitymedical.org.