Ashland (Kan.) Hospital Center decided to tackle the shortage of rural physicians in a creative way: It offers physicians eight weeks of paid time off to provide mission and humanitarian medical services to those in need, according to a report in The Wichita Eagle.
The intent of the hospital's CEO was to attract mission-minded physicians and hospital staff to care for the needs of a rural patient population in Ashland, a city in southwest Kansas with a population under 1,000.
"We don't have the exorbitant salaries to get people out here," said hospital CEO Benjamin Anderson. "What we can give them is time off. We can give them quality of life."
After operating without a physician for 18 months, Daniel Shuman, MD, jumped on Ashland Hospital's offer, which gives him the flexibility to spend several paid months providing missionary medical work in third-world countries.
"The same people who are willing to live in the most remote parts of the world, they don't need a Starbucks or Nordstrom, an airport down the street, country clubs or gated communities," Mr. Anderson said. "These people are here to serve."
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The intent of the hospital's CEO was to attract mission-minded physicians and hospital staff to care for the needs of a rural patient population in Ashland, a city in southwest Kansas with a population under 1,000.
"We don't have the exorbitant salaries to get people out here," said hospital CEO Benjamin Anderson. "What we can give them is time off. We can give them quality of life."
After operating without a physician for 18 months, Daniel Shuman, MD, jumped on Ashland Hospital's offer, which gives him the flexibility to spend several paid months providing missionary medical work in third-world countries.
"The same people who are willing to live in the most remote parts of the world, they don't need a Starbucks or Nordstrom, an airport down the street, country clubs or gated communities," Mr. Anderson said. "These people are here to serve."
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