Recruiting qualified applicants to fill medical-related jobs in rural hospitals is a challenge Huron Regional Medical Center shares with facilities across the nation.

“Recruitment as a whole is difficult across America, but it has been extremely difficult for lab techs, especially during COVID,” said Nicola Larsen, who recruits employees to fill positions at HRMC. “We were short and really needed to boost that population.

“We had talked about foreign recruitment. I had experiences with that in my previous employment in Alaska where we worked with lab techs brought over from the Philippines,” she said.

Larsen said that HRMC Laboratory Director Ruth Anne Brott had worked with a doctor in Grand Island, Neb., Dr. Gio Silva, who recruited lab techs from his native Philippines.

“I reached out to him and he set up five candidates for us,” she said. “We chose three that we thought were amazing. They’re here for three years. They can extend that; it’s another three-year commitment on their part.”

On Feb. 10, Mike Saguin, Matthew Longinos and Eloiza Tabingo arrived in Huron. They were originally scheduled to arrive in November, but the Philippine government had shut down because of COVID so scheduling interviews to leave the country was difficult.

Brott said all three have Bachelor’s degrees in Medical Technology and four years experience working in medical facilities in the Philippines.

“Their education, as far as how they are credentialed and their certification, is equal to the certification we get here in the United States,” Brott said. “All of their education was in English. They’ve done very well in their orientation process into the laboratory. They probably worked in way bigger hospitals in the Philippines.

“They’re delightful and they’re friendly,” she added. “We have quite a few young people in the lab. They really hit it off. They’re going out together, eating together, and that’s been good to see.”

“They are thrilled to be in Huron,” Larsen said. “They keep going on about how great it is. They are a wonderful addition to the hospital, so outgoing and so grateful to be here. We are definitely the fortunate ones to have them.”

Longinos, Saguin and Tabingo all worked together at the same medical facility in the Philippines in Cebu City, one of the biggest cities in the Philippines with a population of 964,169.

“I’ve been working as a tech in the Philippines for four years, and one of my aspirations was to work abroad,” Longinos said. “I was looking for travel opportunities online and I was one of the people referenced by a friend. The friend I’m talking about is Mike, who is here with me now.

“Seeing snow is one of the experiences that we were really excited about,” he added. “In the Philippines it’s either sunny or rainy. No four seasons.”

A light dusting of snow fell about a week after they arrived, and they had fun taking pictures of each other making snow angels.

Watching vibrant colors streak across the sky during sunrises and sunsets has been stunning for all three to witness.

“We sit on the couch and look at the sunset,” Saguin said. “It’s just amazing how beautiful it is.”

“In our city in the Philippines we have mountains and hills,” Longinos added. “Seeing the sunrise and sunset, we take pictures of it. It’s like Instagram ready.”

Although their lab duties are the same as they performed in the Philippines, there were other learning curves the trio had to master to adjust to life in Huron. Such as operating the washing machine in their apartment building.

“In the Philippines there is an operator who operates the laundry, programming the machine,” Sanguin said. “We used YouTube, that’s how we learned how to use the machine.”

Tabingo said the small-town atmosphere in Huron has been fun to experience.

“We live in a big city in the Philippines,” she said. “We actually don’t know each other, like neighbors. Here most of the people know each other very well.

“And most people here really have their own car,” Tabingo added. “In the Philippines we use transit. Our friends offer rides for us like going to the grocery store.”

Social media has helped them keep in touch with family members back home. “We have no feeling of homesick, we treat each other as family,” Sanguin said. “Others at work treat us as their children.

“We are very grateful to our co-workers helping us adjust to this American life we really dreamed of,” Sanguin added. “So far we are very happy in Huron.”

Kim Rieger, vice president of marketing and communications at HRMC, said the medical center has been utilizing travelers — people who will move into a community for a short time to fill open healthcare positions — in their lab.

“We had been struggling the last few years,” Rieger said. “Lab techs are very difficult for South Dakota to produce.

“We need to have many different ways to be bringing peope here,” she added. “This is much more long term and more cost effective than hiring travelers. Travelers can only do so many assignments at a time. They’re more expensive, and you have to rotate them out.”

Rieger said the lab department is becoming quite diverse, with three or four different Karen students on staff who have gone through training.

“I just love that our businesses are now starting to reflect what our community looks like,” Rieger said. “The lab staff tells me they make lots of really good recipes for them. Really hot — they like spicy, hot food.”

Larsen said foreign recruitments is definitely an avenue more health care facilities are looking at to fill vacancies.

“We are working on filling that pipeline for the future,” Larsen said. “We’re doing some forward-thinking things, looking outside the box. I think that is going to pay off here very shortly.”