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Grants To Rural Hospitals Address Health Care Worker Shortages

publicdomainpictures.net Linnaea Mallette

Ascension St. Mary's Hospital in Rhinelander, Nicolet Area Technical College and North Central Technical College have received a grant to assist rural hospitals in filling "high need, high demand" medical positions.

State Department of Health Services spokesperson Linda McCart says the grants are designed to address health care workforce shortages in rural communities.

McCart says a Wisconsin Hospital Association study found a need for workers...

"...We also allowed hospitals to identify other occupations that may or may not have been on their list, if they could document an unmet need and a shortage of workers to fill that need..."

The grants support education and training for an array of allied health professionals, including surgical technologists, substance abusew counselors-in-training, central service technicians, sonographers and phlebotomists.

To get the grant, hospitals were required to form partnerships with educational organizations and health systems. The grant for the Ascension-St. Mary's and the two technical colleges was for $112,000, as part of $300,000 given to four other groups including Marshfield Medical Center and Hospital and Mid-State Technical College.

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