Even as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wind down, health care workers are still needed across the country, with the Salina Regional Health Center network being no different.

Brenda Cox, the chief human resources officer for SRHC, said the biggest struggle it is facing for personnel is nursing staff.

"Our biggest challenge, of course, are (getting) registered nurses and also those people that support the registered nurses," Cox said. "(That includes) nurse assistants and for our clinics, certified medical assistants and licensed practical nurses."

She said these positions are all the most critically needed in the system, with 105 nursing positions open as of Monday.

Salina isn't the only place in the state in need of nursing staff, as the Kansas Department of Labor lists RNs as No. 1 and nursing assistants as No. 7 on a list of high demand occupations on its website.

There are other medical staff shortages in the system as well, including respiratory therapy, radiology technicians and other professional roles.

"Of course you (also) have your one-off positions that are very hard to recruit for," Cox said.

Salina Regional Health Center is doing everything possible to hire more employees

Cox said SRHC is working hard to recruit and hire more employees.

"We're doing so much ... to attract candidates," Cox said. "We've implemented many of the new recruitment best practices such as digital advertising, geofencing and other things people probably haven't even heard of."

One of the things that is nice now is the ability for SRHC to get back out to in-person events.

"Now that COVID has kind of slowed down, we're going to get back in to doing some on-site career fairs," Cox said.

Another helpful thing post-COVID in helping SRHC's ability to find more positions is its collaboration with Salina-area nursing schools.

"With Kansas Wesleyan University ... Salina Tech and the (University of Kansas) school of nursing, we're now building partnerships and working together," Cox said. "They can recruit more students (to their schools), we can hire more of their students and it's just a great partnership."

She said anything that can be done to recruit is helpful, especially as some of the positions are filled with candidates that might look at other industries.

"In Salina, for nurse assistants, we're competing against retail," Cox said. "We're not just competing against the health care field for those non-licensed positions."

Cox said one important thing during this time is the ease of application for positions.

"We're working on, for our application process, to get up to speed to best practices, so it's quick and seamless," Cox said.

Focusing on benefits and not just base pay for SRHC employees

During this time where there are many companies in many fields competing to find workers, Cox said it's important to let candidates know everything about how they would be compensated.

"The other day, I was helping one of our recruiters on making an offer to a licensed professional," Cox said. "They were focused on base pay."

Cox asked the recruiter if they had put a value to the benefits on top of the base pay, including things like time off offered, short-term disability pay, retirement matching, health, dental and vision insurance.

"Putting a cash value to all those, it was an additional 33% to their salary," she said. "When that person saw that (value) … we were able to secure that candidate."

In addition to these benefits that employees see after they start work, Cox said SRHC also offers benefits for some positions, which include relocation expenses, loan forgiveness programs, tuition reimbursement programs for continuing education and  signing bonuses for critical positions and those that have been open for a significant amount of time or have a high vacancy rate.

"The cash value of our benefits (average) approximately 30% of a person's salary, which is amazing," Cox said.

She said these benefits are an important part of remaining competitive and something that her office looks at often.

"We go through a benefits review every year with our brokers and they are always amazed and (tell us) we have one of the best benefits packages in the industry," Cox said. "When you start talking about it and putting a value to those benefits, why wouldn't someone want to work here?"

For more information on employment opportunities at SRHC, visit its career website at www.srhc.com/careers. From that site can be found information on the center's benefits package and also the ability to see and apply for open positions.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina Regional Health Center working to recruit, hire more employees