This is Dr. Elizabeth Erikson’s Story

Meet the 3RNET network coordinator who worked with the in-house recruiter in Astoria, Oregon, to find a physician whose story has a happy ending ‒ a new career in a beautiful community she and her family call home.

Dr. Elizabeth Erikson

Elizabeth Erikson, DO, grew up in the great state of Montana, often referred to as “Big Sky Country.” Montana is also known as “The Treasure State.” Although it relates to its rich mineral reserves, it perfectly applies to Dr. Erikson’s story in the world of rural health recruitment. For the community of Warrenton, Oregon, she is a gem. There were several considerations when contemplating the community where she’d like to establish a family medicine practice. She wanted to be a part of an organization that aligns with her goals for improving access to health care for underserved populations. Also essential was to work with those who would support her efforts focused on prevention.

Did her vision ‒ caring for multiple family members to help them improve their health together as a unit ‒ exist? And if it did, would she find the opportunity in a location that would allow her and her young family to live their best life, close to nature, the mountains, water and big skies?

Amanda Judd, In-House Provider Recruiter

Columbia Memorial Hospital (CMH) is in Astoria, the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon. It is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital with primary care clinics, a host of specialty services, a cancer center and so much more. CMH is the fastest-growing rural hospital in the state, with nearly 700 employees and a professional medical staff of more than 70 physicians. Although the size of the organization and its beautiful coastal community location may seem like a breeze where recruiting is concerned, Amanda Judd will tell you that is not the case.

Serving as CMH’s physician recruiter, Amanda says that her top priority is to ensure that candidates are a good fit for the organization’s culture. As a Planetree Gold-Certified health care organization, it’s essential that candidates for the family medicine physician position are committed to prioritizing patient comfort, and share their values focused on dignity and empowerment, while providing high-quality clinical care. Because Stacee understood all that CMH looks for in a family medicine physician for one of its Primary Care Clinics from her work with Amanda, she knew Dr. Erikson would be a perfect match for CMH.

Stacee Reed, 3RNET's Oregon Network Coordinator

Stacee Reed’s official role is as a recruitment specialist within the Oregon Office of Rural Health. To the hospitals, clinics, and the job-seekers she works with, she is a matchmaker ‒ and an effective one, at that! Each time a job candidate registers on 3RNET and selects Oregon as a state of interest, Stacee jumps into action. When then job seeker Dr. Elizabeth Erikson’s information hit her inbox, Stacee contacted an in-house recruiter at a Critical Access Hospital located in Astoria, Oregon ‒ an organization she had worked with closely over the years. The relationship Stacee built with the physician recruiter in Astoria gave her insight into the hospital’s culture and the community it serves.

Working with both the job-seeker and employer, Stacee follows their progress and helps connect them with vital resources such as loan repayment and J-1 Visa Waiver information.

First practice, beautiful home.

When Dr. Erikson met with CMH’s primary care providers and organization leaders, it was evident almost immediately she was a perfect fit for the organization and the community.

The position offered to her, outpatient family medicine physician, checked all of Dr. Erikson’s boxes. The location, practice size, having a patient panel of her own and access to specialists, to name a few, were all essential factors as she contemplated where to begin her post-residency career.

In 2018, Dr. Elizabeth Erikson began providing whole-person and family care to patients in Warrenton, Oregon. Today, she and her husband and baby, their chickens, and the cow that decided to wander onto and stay on their property are establishing their roots in a place where CMH and 3RNET hope becomes her forever opportunity.