Rural remedies: sometimes overlooked is the boost a small town's health care workers can give the local economy.

• Author: Tobler, Laura

Grays Harbor County lies on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington about 75 miles from Seattle. This rural county--there are about 35 people per square mile--offers rolling tree-covered hills and beautiful ocean beaches giving way to rugged mountains in the north. In the middle of the county, on the top of a hill overlooking Grays Harbor Bay, sits the Grays Harbor Community Hospital. County residents look to the hospital not only for good health care, but also for jobs and a boost to the local economy.

"The hospital employs about 600 people, which makes it our third largest employer" says Michael Tracy, executive director of the Grays Harbor Economic Development Council. But the relationship doesn't end there. "It is absolutely imperative to have good health care providers to be successful at economic development," says Tracy.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler who represents Grays Harbor, agrees that "poor or no access to health care services can shut down a county's economic development plan" before it even gets off the ground.

The link between rural health care services and economic development is clear. Studies show that good local health care services improve a community's ability to attract new businesses and new residents as well as create local jobs. It also helps cash flow in the local economy to have well-paid health care providers like physicians, nurses and pharmacists purchasing goods and services.

"There are three major roles for health care in rural economic development: as a contributor to the local economy; as an industry attracting dollars; and as a factor to recruit businesses, workers and retirees to the community," says Eric Scorsone, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky.

THE LABOR LINK

Providing health care services is labor intensive. So it is no surprise that the health care sector--hospitals, nursing homes, physicians' offices and the like--employ a good number of rural Americans.

"Hospitals are often the second or third largest employer in rural areas," says Brad Gibbens, associate director at the University of North Dakota's Center for Rural Health. One physician can generate more than five jobs and more than $232,000 in additional income each year, he says. Gibbens notes that there is a multiplier effect--each health dollar rolls over in the rural community approximately 1.5 times. He explains that if a rural hospital employs 80 people another 40 jobs are created in the community. Employees build...