Clay Center, Kan. — At times, transferring patients out of Clay County Medical Center (CCMC) was a nightmare, with calls for help going out to 40 different hospitals within a 5-6 state area to find a bed, but things have since changed.

CEO of the Hospital, Austin Gillard, continued they’ve also partnered with Bryant Health in Lincoln to help alleviate any stress.

When it comes to staffing, Gillard says every hospital is struggling with staffing, but they have a few traveling nurses giving their staff breathing room. He added it’s allowing them to keep their one nurse for every four patient’s ratio to continue, which is a goal of his.

At one point though, Gillard said he was nervous about operations when there were 28 employees out due to COVID, but thankfully the rest of the team at the hospital stepped up to the challenge.

He expects the nursing shortage to continue to for the next three to five years. When he spoke to four of the large nursing schools in Kansas, enrollment is not increasing which is concerning. On the bright side of things however, the number applicants isn’t decreasing.

Jonathan Lang covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.

KFRM covers news from across the state of Kansas, the Northern part of Oklahoma, and Southern part of Nebraska.

KCLY coverage area includes the nine counties of Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Marshall, Ottawa, Riley, Republic, and Washington.

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