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Recruitment and retention are two staffing issues affecting all medical providers. It’s been a key issue for the Manteo Healthcare Task Force.

To address this issue, a six-week preceptor program will start in Dare County this summer. Dare County is the first of three “hubs” created to invite medical students to work and visit a place that needs more medical providers.

Two physician assistant students from Campbell University are scheduled to work with Ocracoke Health Center, Engelhard Medical Center and Manteo Community Health Center. Housing is already provided.

A part of recruitment is rolling out the welcome mat. When the students arrive, welcome dinners will be arranged. Before arriving, the students will be asked to fill out a survey about their interests.

Margaret Northrup is heading the recruitment effort to show Dare County to the two students and respond to their interests. Call her at 252-256-3026 to volunteer tickets or a boat ride or an under-10 baseball game or gazing at the stars and satellites. The possibilities are endless.

This program is sponsored by the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation with monetary support from Blue Cross Blue Shield. A multi-pronged approach to preceptor programming is underway. Another agency working in eastern North Carolina is the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers.

In other business, task force member Randy Hamilton presented a new organization chart that more closely follows the work of the task force.

Malcolm Fearing, task force chairman, delivered an update from Joe Rockenstein of the Manteo Community Health Center on Budleigh Street.

The center has hired a new nurse practitioner who focuses on women’s health and will arrive mid-August. The center is opening its pharmacy next week that can be used only by center patients. A new clinical director is slated for service starting the beginning of August. Rockenstein reports that the center has continued to expand mental health services, increasing the number of days and time slots for appointments.

Task force member Randy Fenninger, who sits on the center’s board, reported that the center has already seen 3,000 patients, is growing rapidly and, as expected, is outgrowing its current space.

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