18 Docs in a Town of 1,300?

Dr. Gerry Sailer is retired now but the legacy he has created in out-of-the-way Hettinger, ND is one of legends. Most towns of 1,300 are lucky to have one doctor or possibly two, but Dr. Sailer had a vision of his adopted town reaching out to neighboring towns and ranches. He recruited in recent medical school grads, many from other small towns in the state, with a message of, “rural areas like this are where you can make a difference, not necessarily make the most money.” All of the 18 physicians work in the same group. All of them travel to their satellite offices. They work as a team, helping each other.

The locally owned, not-for-profit hospital, West River Health Services is a critical access hospital with 25 beds. It owns eight outlying sites and services four others. There are only 20,000 people living in its 20,000 square mile coverage area, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Jim Long, CEO of West River, understands that places like Hettinger face some critical issues due to past out migrations and the rapid aging of its population. With a medium age of over 50 years compared to a national average of 35 years he told me, “We have 15 years to change these trends or we will slide downhill over a quick period of time.”

Places like Hettinger still have that chance, but they’ve got to create more jobs and opportunities if they are going to survive. It’s people like Bob Kudrna, Dr. Laura Walker, Wes Cvach, Dr. Gerry Sailer and Jim Long that make such a difference in places like Hettinger.