Queen is new employment coordinator at HRMC

Haywood Regional Medical Center’s new employment coordinator has a huge task — recruiting and hiring the staff necessary for the hospital to become fully operational.

Since the first of June, Julia Queen has been diligently processing more than 300 applications for a number of job openings at the hospital. Of those, 33 registered nurses, nine certified nursing assistants, an Intensive Care Unit director, an Emergency Department director, a Human Resource Department director and multiple other positions have been hired.
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“As we hire and train additional staff, we can bring the patients in and provide safe and effective health care; and if we don’t have patients, we don’t have revenue,” Queen said. “It takes team effort to expedite and implement a thorough and complete hiring process and this is the approach that HRMC is taking.”

So, every day since Queen began her new job on June 16, she spends hours reading stacks of applications. There are also follow-up tasks of scheduling background checks, drug screenings and physicals, and orientation for the new employees.

She realizes the urgency of fully staffing the hospital and thus has been able to implement some changes to improve and expedite the hiring process, while making sure adequate orientation and on-the-job training standards are sustained.

“The changes implemented have made a big difference in the turnaround time,” Queen said. “It’s exciting when managers thank you for being able to expedite the hiring process and have the employees start working for their departments.”

Recruiting is nothing new for Queen. Prior to being hired by the hospital, she worked for a temporary staffing agency that provided workers for area hospitals.

“I was already staffing, but one of the first things I did was to change the contract between that agency and HRMC to better reflect the needs of the hospital,” she said.

Queen received her associate degree as a registered nurse 17 years ago. The single mother of four returned to Western Carolina University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing in May. She graduated with honors.

“A couple of years ago, when I was getting ready to begin my clinical rotation in management at WCU, I chose Haywood Regional as the medical facility to complete this rotation. Usually, a nursing student can pick one mentor; but, I wanted to shadow multiple mentors. I was very, very impressed with the managers, house supervisors and nurses that I shadowed with at Haywood Regional,” Queen said. “That’s when I knew I wanted to work at this hospital.”

She applied for a job at HRMC in February, but to her dismay it coincided with the decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to terminate the federal contract with HRMC.

“A couple of months later, I came back and would you believe the state was at the hospital surveying. So, I waited,” Queen said.

Her patience paid off. Two months after that, she was hired as employment coordinator.

“I wasn’t sure how things would go; but I know this is a good hospital. So far, it’s been a positive experience,” Queen said.

HRMC invited nurses to an open house event June 18, and Queen attended a health career fair in Asheville.

“We hired several nurses from those two events,” she said.

Her future plans include visiting with area colleges and universities to tap into students who will be completing their nursing training.

When fully staffed, HRMC employs about 270 nurses, almost one-third of the hospital’s total workforce of 900. While nurses are the most needed positions for the hospital, other positions are being hired as well.

HRMC has an online application process. Go to www.haymed.org and click on careers/job opportunities. There you can view the current job openings and submit an application.

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Queen is new employment coordinator at HRMC