By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The shortage of nurses, respiratory therapists and other specialists at Olympic Medical Center, brought on by the huge spike in Covid-19 cases and the sheer endurance of the pandemic, is being dealt with, at least in part, by bringing in staff from other areas on a temporary basis.
But the effort to attract so-called “traveling staff” is being met with another problem in our area; where will they stay while they’re here? OMC needs temporary housing, and their asking for your help.
“We had 12 travelers in the month of July, and in the month of August we have 29 traveling nurses, which is actually a record for us. So we are actively looking for housing because we have more nurses and more other traveling staff than there is housing in the area.”
That’s Chief Human Resources Officer Jennifer Burkhardt. When she says “immediate area”, she doesn’t mean it has to be in Port Angeles or even Sequim. Anything within commuting distance will be considered.
“So we are actively asking the public to reach out if there are opportunities to rent a room, to rent a small house, to rent even a trailer or other alternative kinds of housing.”
Burkhardt says the length of stay varies, but a typical traveler commitment is 13 weeks.
As the search for temporary housing goes on, OMC officials are working on other solutions as well. Renovations are under way on the house donated to the OMC Foundation last year by Lloyd Bedinger. Bedinger’s mother, the late Helen Rice, lived in the home for 60 years, herself a former employee of OMC. When renovations are complete, Burkhardt says the home will be used to house traveling staff.
“Actually, OMC has two other properties that we’re just almost finished renovating so that we can pass that along to staff. We’ve also reserved a block of rooms locally at hotels, and are providing those hotel rooms to traveling staff. But even with all those options, were still finding that there’s a shortage, and we have a need, and we’re hoping the public can assist us with that.”
If community members have available housing, please reach out via email to jobs@olympicmedical.org.