Prairie Business Red River Valley

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

PBRRV 3

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


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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PBRRV 5

JENNIFERFEIST

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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]

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ago!”-Eric H., Fargo, ND

Burchill Housing, Valley City

RRV Research


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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


“

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ON THISDATE

RRV News


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


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.

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