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Show ! Garfield Hospital Doesn't Share Many Other Hospitals' Problems While rural hospitals around the country are closing their doors due to lack of community support, Garfield Memorial Hospital's doors arc swinging wide. "Community support for this hospital is outstanding," says Linda Owen, RN, director of nursing. "The people here know how difficult diffi-cult it is to keep a rural hospital alive today and have expressed willingness time and again to help in any way possible whether it be through fund raising, carpentry or financial donations." Not only is the community support tremendous, but the dedication of the hospital's staff is unlike any she has encountered, Owen says. "It's amazing. You call a staff meeting and everybody shows up. Around here people really care and want to have a say in what goes on." Community members arc fond of telling Owen how the community has changed for the belter since the hospital came to town. "They tell me how much they appreciate the security of the hospital with its medical and nursing nurs-ing staff nearby," she says. The majority of patients who have to be transferred to a major hospital will ask if they can come back to Garfield Memorial as soon as the crisis is over, adds Owen. Or they'll beg to stay even though they know Garfield doesn't have the staff or equipment to treat their particular problem. "People feel in a larger hospital they're just another patient," Owen says. "But here they're somebody's friend or relative. rela-tive. There's a lot of security in that." According to Owen, nurses at Garfield and other rural hospitals often possess a wider variety of skills than nurses at larger hospitals. hospi-tals. "In larger hospitals nurses specialize spe-cialize in one area. We don't have that luxury. We are specialists in ' everything. Our nurses arc constantly con-stantly upgrading their skills through outreach education programs pro-grams offered through Utah Valley Regional Medical Center and the University of Utah," says Owen. Garfield nurses arc currently lltlllt -!i ft -1 . t'2SP;S&45'" : '':c"M Sfv till l ;t -'-v t . : :;: ;-SlSBIPlllif -: ' : I . ' . y M-SiBlll' ::ilC'::Ss- " ..... iMw:MBww.A 1 i Garfield County Memorial Hospital's director of nursing Linda Owens finishes paperwork and prepares to greet patients and visitors alike. Said hospital Administrator Wayne Ross, "Owens, like all our nursing staff, has high professional ability and high ethical standards." participating in a rural nurse certification program sponsored by Intermounlain Health Care, the Salt Lake City-based, not-for-profit health care company that owns Garfield Memorial Hospital. The program helps nurses update their skills in the areas of cardiology, emergency medicine, obstetrics and pediatrics, psychology and surgery. Garfield is fortunate not to be experiencing the nursing shortage facing hospitals across the country. Owen believes the reason is nurses in the area have the desire to continually con-tinually upgrade their skills which means nurses' aides become RNs on a regular basis. With continued community support and its dedicated staff, Garfield Memorial Hospital's doors should be swinging wide for years to come, she said. |