SMITH COUNTY, Texas — In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith County plans to invest millions of dollars in hopes of retaining health care workers.
On Tuesday, the Smith County Commissioners Court approved to allocate $4.52 million of its American Rescue Plan Act to local hospitals and ERs to create a retention payment plan.
Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran believes “medical facilities have given so much to their neighbors, to their friends, their loved ones, to treat them for COVID-19, to make sure that we stay safe.”
$2 million is designated to CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System. Another $2 million is designated to UT Health East Texas. UT Health, Tyler CEO, Vicki Briggs appreciates the County’s assistance because “the hospital does everything we can to support them, but seeing their County leadership come together to provide the opportunity for these incentives really is meaningful to our caregivers.”
Prior to the funding, UT Health East Texas was paying $500,000 a week to provide opportunities and incentives for those that choose to work more than their typical shifts.
The goal is to keep medical professionals local:
“Those staff positions are being chased all over the country by these exorbitant contracts to help lure them away. We want to help keep them here. So we want to say to them, ‘we want you to stay local, we want you to continue to treat local patients.’” Judge Moran thanks the East Texas caregivers for their help these past 18 months.
Briggs says UT Health East Texas appreciates the ARPA funding, but “it won’t fix the problem.” The shortage of healthcare professionals, nurses, respiratory therapists, and more is largely due to the enticements of contract staffing and higher pay. Briggs believes showing appreciation for the caregivers that have chosen to stay is important. Briggs says the next way the community can help combat the spread is to get vaccinated.
Each of the facilities will get to spend the next two months creating a plan to show the county how it wants to spend that money.