Regehr promotes Iola to medical professionals

The inviting ambiance of Iola is a huge advantage in the recruitment of medical professionals, Lisse Regehr told Iola Rotarians Thursday.
Regehr joined Thrive Allen County in October as its community health care educator. Among her tasks is recruitment. A native of Iola, she came here from working in foundation fundraising in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
To date, one physician has been impressed enough to narrow his choices to either Iola or Pittsburg and will decide in the spring whether to come here with a partner, Regehr said. A dentist, who will practice at Community Health Center, is on board.
Those achievements didn’t come on the fly, and Regehr gave an inside look at what goes into recruitment, and why it is important.
“We have six providers and all are within 10 years of (possible) retirement,” she said, which means “we need to look to the future” in attracting medical professionals. Efforts have centered on the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, where, surprisingly, far from all about to graduate have their sights set on big city life.
The process is simple enough, yet extensive and creative.
Recruiting visits include a hometown basket, which starts with an offering of chocolate delights from Russell Stover Candies and a Valomilk, first made in Iola in 1903 by Sifers Candy and available at Iola Pharmacy. A jar of local honey adds another level of sweetness. The basket also is crammed with facts and figures about Iola.
Once a prospect arrives in Iola, one of the first stops is the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, where Director Susan Raines gives a tour. Spacious seating in front of the main stage always impresses. Also finding quick favor is the rail-trail running south atop the old picturesque iron railroad bridge over Elm Creek and shrouded in an abundance of vegetation.
Iola’s Happy Tails Dog Park is a perk that visitors find unusual for a town Iola’s size, Regehr said. Riverside Park also is an eye-catcher.
“A lot of us who live here take those things for granted,” she added, but they are features that come as a surprise for many who expect small towns to have just the bare necessities.
The downtown, with its huge courthouse square, is a Rockwellian moment, particularly when one of the several community events is in full swing.
Disadvantages Regehr and fellow recruiters have to overcome is the less than attractive entrances to Iola east side, including “a sea of cars” along U.S. 54, and lack of rentals. She pointed out those who might locate here would prefer to rent a home for a time while deciding if Iola is a good fit. Real estate concerns have been massaged by several people, often on the spur of the moment, by being willing to show what they have, both for rent and sale, and having some properties poised for sale offered for rent.
The biggest drawback? “A stand-alone grocery,” Regehr said. “That’s hard for some people from elsewhere, even small towns, to accept.” The county’s economic development group has redoubled its effort to encourage a grocery to come to Iola; possibilities are pending.
In sum, Regehr said, recruitment isn’t “just the hospital and Thrive. It’s the whole community.” Thrive is putting together a task force to involve more people in recruiting. Spontaneous contacts and get-togethers with local residents — a factor in the dentist’s decision — can be the difference in a medical professional picking Iola or, in the physician’s case, Pittsburg, or another city. All small towns are eager to attract professionals of every ilk — recruitment may not be blood sport, but it is highly competitive.