Rural Community Nursing

Delivering Care in Rural America

Nurses demonstrate resilience and compassion in unprecedented times.

When Tim Plante, RN, MSN, MHA, Division Vice President of Nursing Midwest Division, left his prior role as Chief Nursing Officer at a Lincoln, Nebraska hospital to lead the Midwest, he immediately learned how differently nursing care is provided in rural communities. In his new role, he oversees 18 rurally-based Critical Access Hospitals in Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and Minnesota.

“The difference in rural health is vast. With fewer resources, each team member wears many hats and what we lack in volume and resources, our nurses make up for in experience, grit and innovative care,” Tim says. “For example, it’s not uncommon for our rural community nurses to deliver a baby in the morning and oversee hospice care in the afternoon.”

Dr. Veronica Martin-Posley, DNP, RN, NEABC, Division SVP & Chief Nurse Executive, St. Luke’s Health - Texas Division, leads the Texas Division which includes 16 acute care hospitals, four of which are rural hospitals. Like Tim, she noted how the nurses in these locations provide multiple services, ranging from direct patient care to the registration of new patients and patient meal delivery. She also said most rural community nurses must be well trained in all aspects of care, particularly for the elderly, a primary patient population in rural communities.

Navigating COVID-19

The ability to perform numerous roles each day was critical during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When COVID-19 first appeared in the Midwest Division, our two small rural community nursing homes were

“Rural community nurses are a resilient, well-trained group of team members who are committed to providing services in a highly specialized environment. We thank them every day for all they do.”

— Dr. Veronica Martin-Posley, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Division SVP & Chief Nurse Executive, St. Luke’s Health - Texas Division

“Rural community nurses only know the night before where they will work. They are masters at all of the areas they work in.”

— Timothy Plante, RN, MSN, MHA, Division Vice President of Nursing - Midwest Division

devastated with outbreaks among patients and staff, ultimately losing 48% of their residents to COVID-19,” Tim says. “To help, our entire Midwest Division clinical team learned isolation techniques, picked up shifts, and made food for each other so our rural community nurses could focus 100% on the patients.”

Veronica says the Texas Division rural community nurses performed similar crisis care, including delivering COVID-19 community-based education, vaccine clinics and providing care during COVID-19 surges. This included treating rurally-based patients and receiving overflow patients from the larger, tertiary hospitals.

Looking Ahead

Providing nursing care in rural communities presents unique challenges, starting with recruitment. Many nurses who work in our rural settings are approaching retirement and onboarding new nurses requires a special tenacity. Both Tim and Veronica say they’ve had the most success recruiting nurses who live near, or grew up in, rural communities. One of Tim’s nursing supervisors now proudly works in the same rural hospital where she was born and where her mother and grandmother also served as nurses. •

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Rural Community Nursing*

1 Nebraska

CHI Health Plainview, Plainview CHI Health Schuyler, Schuyler CHI Health St. Mary’s, Nebraska City

2 Iowa

CHI Health Missouri Valley, Missouri Valley CHI Health Mercy Corning, Corning

3 North Dakota

CHI St. Alexius Health Williston, Williston CHI St. Alexius Health Dickinson, Dickinson CHI St. Alexius Health Garrison Memorial Hospital, Garrison CHI St. Alexius Health Turtle Lake, Turtle Lake CHI St. Alexius Health Devils Lake Hospital, Devils Lake CHI St. Alexius Health Carrington, Carrington CHI Mercy Health Valley City, Valley City CHI Lisbon Health, Lisbon CHI Oakes Hospital, Oakes

4 Minnesota

CHI St. Francis Health, Breckenridge CHI St. Gabriel’s Health, Little Falls CHI St. Joseph’s Health, Park Rapids CHI LakeWood Health, Baudette

5 Texas

CHI St. Joseph Health Burleson Hospital, Caldwell CHI St. Joseph Health Madison Hospital, Madisonville CHI St. Joseph Health Grimes Hospital, Navasota St. Luke’s Health-Memorial San Augustine, San Augustine

*Additional Rural Health locations exist throughout CommonSpirit.