Local Jobs

POSTED: Sunday, Apr. 13, 2008

Demand increasing for workers in medical field

Christina Moran, the nursing director at Lynden Manor, has more than a hundred reasons for working at the assisted-living retirement community on Aaron Drive.

"I get to hug 115 elderly people, and I like it," Moran says. "Their stories are amazing."

Residents have included a man who helped to develop the atom bomb, a woman who hiked at Mount Baker on her 102nd birthday and three children of Oregon Trail settlers. On-site living histories.

"We owe them everything," Moran says of the residents. "I go home every day knowing that I got to change someone's life. I don't want people (job applicants) coming in thinking that this is just a job."

If prospective employees aren't compassionate by nature, they likely won't fit.

"You need to have a personality that is caring," says Don Fisher, Lynden Manor's administrator and founder, "and be able to relate to the senior population."

Eighty employees, about half of them nurses and caregivers, work at the 11-year-old facility, which provides 24/7 staffing. The nursing department and food services have experienced the most growth.

A global nursing shortage, though, sometimes snags the hiring process, much the same as it does at other medical centers. Fisher says there aren't enough people getting trained, chiefly because there aren't enough nursing programs and schools that offer them.

Moran's nursing class at Bellingham Technical College had 43 students, and she was among 13 who graduated in 2001.

"But if there had been enough room for double that, you'd have a lot more graduates," Fisher says.

The hiring pool could get even smaller in the near future as life expectancies continue to increase.

"The nursing industry, in general, is in dire need," Moran says. "As baby boomers get older, we're going to be inundated. There's not going to be enough people in the industry to handle it."

Nurses at Lynden Manor make up to $19 per hour, Fisher says, and food services personnel earn from $8 to $11.50 an hour. Department managers earn up to $50,000 annually.

Food services, which numbers about 20 workers, operates a sit-down restaurant that is open from early morning to evening.

Other departments include housekeeping, maintenance, activity and administration.

Keeping staff for a long time isn't always easy, considering the difficulty and stress in the work. The center has experienced about 100 percent turnover in the past five years while retaining a long-term core group of more than 30.

"Besides the hard work, we also become like family members," Fisher says. "When they (residents) become sick or pass away, it is not always easy to just move on."

Lynden Manor offers employees several perks, including:

• Recently instituted 401(k) profit sharing;

• "Ethnic" days, employee appreciation days;

• Discount meal tickets;

• "Buddy bonus" program (employees receive bonuses for referring applicants who get hired);

• Shift differential for nurses.

All workers must pass a drug screening and a criminal background check, and also be trained within 90 days of hire to meet requirements of the Washington Administrative Code.

What does management look for in potential hires? Workers who are outgoing, honest, kind and considerate, open and communicative. And caregiving experience counts considerably.

"Maybe a grandparent or family member who you've helped to take care of," Fisher says. "Any experience like that is great."