Home Grown

“Either we grow our own or we starve to death.”

John W. Richmond

Retired president & CEO, Northwest Medical Center 

Photo by Nurse Practitioners of Central Pennsylvania 

Did you know 25 percent of all Americans live in small towns and rural areas? But only 10 percent of doctors practice in those same places. The numbers don’t add up. That’s not news to folks living in these communities. They’ve been stuck between a “no doc” and a hard place for years. One small town in Missouri has a simple solution to the problem: grow your own.

John W. Richmond, retired president and CEO of Northwest Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital in Albany, Missouri (population 1,730), had a heck of a time attracting top doctors, or any kind of doctor, to this small community. He pretty much had to take what he could get, and even then the doctors never stayed long. By 2000, staff at Northwest Medical Center were pulling 24-hour shifts just to keep the hospital running. At his wit’s end, Mr. Richmond suddenly had a “light bulb” moment and looked at the young citizens of the town in a new light.

Why not, thought Mr. Richmond, grow our own doctors and medical personnel. We’ll encourage a caretaking commitment among our young people and provide them mentoring opportunities and paying jobs at the hospital. More than that, for students who show potential, the hospital decided to offer forgivable college loans, as long as the students would agree to come back to Albany to work, at least for a few years.

It’s working. The program has helped 23 nurses, 2 medical technicians, and 1 certified nurse anesthetist, who in turn are helping the town. Soon, 2 family practice doctors will be finishing their residency training and returning to Albany to work. One doctor, Dr. Katie Dias, has received $60,000 in financial aid, which will be forgiven if she returns to the community to work for five years. But Dr. Dias doesn’t plan to stay five years . . . she plans to stay much, much longer. Her family ties to Albany date back to the 1800s, and she has no intention of leaving after her five years are up. Numbers, and a commitment like that, add up to success for this small Missouri town.

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