An RVMC program, unique to Oregon, encourages retired nurses to help alleviate staff shortages

Dressed in celestial-print scrubs and a wooden beaded necklace in colors of the rainbow, Nancy McGrath smiles as she gently places a stethoscope on patient Karen Clark’s chest.

"Patients are most of the reason I could never stop nursing until I get too old and have to hobble around," said McGrath, 63.

McGrath, a registered nurse, retired four years ago, yet almost every week, she goes on duty at Rogue Valley Medical Center as part of the hospital’s return nurse program.

The program allows retired nurses to return to work at the hospital and have the freedom of setting their own hours.

Currently, the program is the only one of its kind in Oregon but could become the foundation for a statewide program to address the nurse shortage, said Debra Feammelli, spokeswoman for Oregon Nurses Association.

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"ONA is evaluating having such a program under its wings," Feammelli said. "We think it’s a great way to retain quality (registered nurses) in the work force."

On the cusp of retirement in 2001, McGrath founded the program as a way to address the nurse shortage and allow older nurses to continue nursing without working backbreaking eight to 12-hour shifts.

RVMC has a nurse vacancy rate of about 5.3 percent, significantly lower than the national average of 13.9 percent.

Until the program started, nurses were required to give a minimum of 144 hours a quarter.

"Nursing is very physically demanding," McGrath said. "For nurses 55 to 65 sometimes the physical demands are more than what their bodies can withstand."

Now, return nurses can work as little or as much as they wish from one four-hour shift a week to a few hours a month. That means some of those who would have otherwise retired are still in the work force, McGrath said.

"Most nurses who retire have a minimum of 20 to 25 years of experience," McGrath said. "They have a huge body of knowledge, and when they leave, the hospital, patients and other nurses lose that body of knowledge."

Return nurses often work in the specialty they did as full-time nurses from general floor duty to heart cauterizations. They get paid the going rate based on experience but do not get health insurance.

The only criteria for the program is 20 years of nursing experience.

Barb Geiszler said becoming a return nurse has allowed her to enjoy her patients in a way that wasn’t possible when she was a full-timer.

"Now, I have time to visit with the patients, and you rarely see that because nurses are so swamped," Geiszler said.

Since the program’s beginning, the number of return nurses at RVMC has grown from two to about 15. Altogether the retirees work about 3,500 hours per year, the equivalent of nearly two full- time nurses, said Kurt Chapman, RVMC recruitment manager. Their hours are often limited because of their Social Security benefits limit them from earning more than $12,000 a year.

While two full-time positions may not make a noticeable difference for a nursing staff that numbers 700, it is one of the strategies that can be used to help offset the nurse deficit, McGrath said.

"The nurse shortage is not going to be solved by a silver bullet," McGrath said. "It’s going to require small increments to make a significant impact."

Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4496 or e-mail pachen@mailtribune.com.