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 Answering the need for nurses in an era of
shortages in the profession is a challenge for today’s hospital administrators. Rural areas, in
particular, suffer when competing with metropolitan areas for nurses in key specialty areas. One
Susquehanna County hospital has established an educational program that is filling its need for nurses,
technicians and health care support staff from within its ranks.
Barnes-Kasson Hospital began in 1904 as a hospital for the Erie Railroad employees and their families.
In 1965 the hospital facility was established on Turnpike Street in Susquehanna Depot Borough. Today
the hospital has 54 acute care beds, including an Intensive Care Unit, a Cardiac Care Unit, along with
medical/surgical and OB/GYN services and operates a 24-hour Emergency Room. There is also a 58-bed
long-term care facility and a rehabilitation center. The 17.5-acre campus includes the hospital,
three adjacent properties that house the hospital’s marketing and administrative offices, along with
an in-service building, and the Home Health, WIC, Susquehanna County Transportation programs.
Barnes-Kasson also operates six senior centers that provide activities and meals for senior citizens
and has a homebound meals program. Under a separate umbrella is the Barnes-Kasson Health Center network,
which operates four physician care facilities located in Susquehanna, New Milford, Hallstead and Lenox.
Sara (Sally) Iveson, the hospital’s administrator, arrived at Barnes-Kasson on January 9, 1969. “It was the beginning
of the Medicare era. I came on a temporary basis to set up the books to do the accounting and billing for the
program,” she recalls.
Today the hospital employs between 380 and 400 people who require, Sally says, “Endless training.” The hospital
has had a strong in-service program since the late 1960’s. In the mid 1970’s Sally took a step that changed the
direction of staff recruitment and development forever. She paid for a staff member to take a class at Luzerne
County Community College. This was the beginning of the hospital’s “Grow a Nurse” program that has expanded to
include medical, technical and health care administrative support staff development.
Thirty Barnes-Kasson employees were in school in the spring, 2002 semester, registered for a total of 50 classes.
In June, 2002 the Barnes-Kasson continuing education program graduated a total of 14 students that included four
registered nurses, and three medical records clerks. In addition, four associate degrees were awarded in liberal
arts, along with one human services associate’s degree, one bachelor’s degree in business administration, and one
masters degree in health care administration.
For Sally Iveson, the number of employees graduating is a symbol of the years of work put into developing a continuing
education program for the hospital that is committed to developing staff resources from within its ranks. “During my
first decade at the hospital, we hired and trained, hired and trained and hired and trained,” Sally recalls, adding
that the frustration of the time-consuming process sent her searching for another way. “We looked for reasons why
this was happening and found that many of our employees were not from the area and in fact were looking for experience
before moving back to a metropolitan area for higher pay.” Sally decided to seek her nurses locally, expanding from
within the hospital’s ranks by identifying those already working for her who were interested in continuing their education.
Though nurses remain the focal point of Sally’s educational efforts, she also supports the continuing education for
those in other areas of health care. Sally’s commitment to her employees includes a summer day care program for the
children of Barnes-Kasson workers. Now in its seventh year, the program not only assists hospital employees, but
also provides area high school students a place to work …and an opportunity to develop an interest in the health
care field. Sally predicts that some of those workers at the day care center will be back as regular employees,
and the hospital will be paying for their continuing education. “They find that they like the health care field –
and that they like Barnes-Kasson.” Again, Sally is there to encourage the graduating students. In 2002,
Barnes-Kasson awarded five scholarships to area high school students, four for nursing and one for occupational therapy.
In addition to providing staff in a time of need, Sally maintains that the hospital’s education program is good for
the hospital’s bottom line. “It costs $5,985 to grow a nurse through Luzerne County Community College at today’s
(Spring, 2002) tuition rates,” she says. “To run an advertisement in area and regional newspapers for two weeks
can cost nearly that much and the resulting employee would probably not stay in this area very long.” By offering
her current staff who are mostly settled in the area, an opportunity to grow in their profession, and encouraging
the young people of the area to consider health care as a career, Barnes-Kasson’s turnover rate has not exceeded 5%
as opposed to a health care field average of 24%.
In her efforts to provide quality education for Barnes-Kasson employees, Sally has worked closely with Luzerne County
Community College. “LCCC came to the local high school and a couple of my staff signed up for classes,” she recalls.
“It was working for us, so I was happy to help expand the course offerings.”
For Sally, the educational initiative is another component of her organization's service to the community. “We as a
facility need to give back more than just services,” she says of Barnes-Kasson hospital. “To upgrade the educational
levels of our community is a win-win situation.”
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