It would be easy for Janet Benzing to talk about the problems she has faced since she became administrator of Delta Health Northwest Regional, but she prefers to talk about solutions and success.
Benzing took over her post at the top of this community’s hospital about a year ago and in the midst of the COVID crisis, nursing shortage and the day-to-day challenges of running a hospital that had not been cared for in the years prior.
Delta Health System, headquartered in Greenville, acquired the Northwest Regional Medical Center from Community Health Systems bringing its understanding of healthcare in the Mississippi Delta and a heart-felt desire to help people living in rural communities.
Benzing said she was not part of the team that made the acquisition, but she was quickly approached by DHS leadership about taking on the task.
“When I first heard we were coming to Clarksdale, I asked if they had picked an administrator,” said Benzing. “They smiled and said they were busy with the acquisition.”
Benzing said she casually said she was interested and she smiled when she said they smiled again.
The purchase of the Clarksdale hospital was finalized at the first of February 2021 and Benzing was named administrator at the end of that month.
And while Benzing said it has been a positive move for her, it has not been without its problems, long days and challenges that healthcare executives have never faced before.
“Staffing has been the major problem for healthcare providers for almost two years now,” said Benzing. “Nursing has been the major concern, but it has also been difficult to find respiratory therapists, lab technicians and radiologists. Government has tried to help with programs, date-bases and such, but it has been difficult for rural hospitals to attract the professionals we need to serve our community.”
She talked about how thin the healthcare industry has been stretched and how dedicated staff have been the silver lining in the COVID crisis.
“Healthcare draws a special kind of person – someone who wants to help people – people who realize how important their job is and how caring for others is critical,” Benzing. “The hometown nurses, technicians and specialist who have stuck by this hospital and this community . . . people in Clarksdale will never know how much they care and how much they have done.”
She said they are “mission driven” and not chasing dollars or the bright lights of bigger cities.
She also said understands that is key to finding quality healthcare professionals.
“We work hard to maintain our relationship with Coahoma Community College, Delta State and Phillips College across the river,” said Benzing. “The nurses and healthcare technicians who come out of those schools probably want to stay in this area and probably have that mission-oriented mindset.”
Benzing said one of her first tasks was to send DHS-Clarksdale representatives to every career fair she could find.
Benzing said healthcare was changing before COVID and continues to change.
“One of the major changes is we want to keep you out of the hospital,” said Benzing. “That may sound unusual, but we want to see you, tend to the immediate need and then connect you with a clinic or one of our doctors.
She explained primary care should come from a doctor and not necessarily a hospital emergency room. Emergency room care is almost four times more expensive than care provided by a doctor at an office, and in a community with a lot of uninsured people that can get expensive for a traditional hospital.
Benzing said she has also pushed staff to be involved in local health fairs, community events that address heart disease, diabetes, pediatrics and women’s health.
“There was already a trend toward home health and COVID just sped that up,” said Benzing. “There has been an even bigger push back to home healthcare.”
She said technology hurdles in The Delta and among the elderly are being worked out and she is pleased with how they have progressed.
Benzing said that same technology is being used to address the nursing shortage, with nurses monitoring patients via the machines they are connected to.
Benzing said she is also pleased with the drop in the emergency room wait time.
She admits it fluctuates depending on the number of people who walk in the door, but she said times have dropped for door-to-doctor. She said people are assessed the minute they walk in the door and the average wait time to see a doctor is 18- to 32-minutes – again depending on demand.
Benzing said the hospital is seeking to focus on treating patients locally with local physicians.
“We will never do transplants or neuro surgery or the more specialized forms of healthcare and people will have to get elsewhere to get those services,” said Benzing. “But we do want people to try us first.”
She said Clarksdale has a wide variety of physicians specializing in a wide variety of fields.
Studies have shown that people who have to travel to get healthcare, often put off tending to those needs early, when treatment can be more successful.
Benzing urged people to think about the transportation issues and how immediate care can make a difference in someone quality of life.
Benzing said DHS has also studied the numbers and pediatric, pre- and post-natal care and obstetrics and gynecology are needed in Clarksdale.
“We saw where Clarksdale’s numbers were about the same as Greenville, which is larger,” said Benzing. “This hospital averages about 600 births a year.”
She did point out the Clarksdale hospital is also becoming a regional medical hub and many of those birthing mothers come from surrounding counties.
One of the major decisions that still has to be made is how big will Delta Health Northwest Regional be.
“We need a facility that fits our needs,” said Benzing. “What kind of building that might be and what it would look like have not been determined.”
She pointed to an aging facility, with old pipes, old wiring, old roofs and a long list of needs.
Benzing said figuring out what to invest in is the key.
“We want to grow and we are,” said Benzing. “We are adding doctors and we still serve a lot of people in a lot of different ways every day. But we will probably re-arrange things so we can do the same things with smaller support staff.”
Benzing said the hospital is a major employer in Clarksdale and with any hospital is a key institution in economic development and quality of life.
Again she said attracting people who want to live in Clarksdale is the key.
So how did a native of Urbana, Illinois end up in the Mississippi Delta?
“I realized early on – probably high school – that I wanted to be involved in healthcare,” said Benzing. “I initially thought it might be nursing, but I was attracted to business and that led to education choices and my career path.”
Benzing said she grew up in a rural part of Illinois, loves what smaller communities offer and said many of the same challenges facing healthcare in rural Illinois are found in rural Mississippi.
Prior to leading healthcare in Mississippi, her career encompassed a variety of leadership roles with Presence Health in the central Illinois region. This included implementation and delivery of quality, professional and compassionate medical services.
Janet is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE) and is Board Certified through ACMPE.
She said getting healthcare out to people in more rural areas has been one of her success with DHS. She pointed to the opening of the Arcola Health Clinic and Delta Quick, a weekend clinic in Greenville, where she played a role establishing those facilities.
She is also extremely active in the community and serves on many non-profit boards in leadership positions.
Janet met her husband Nathan at a Bible study in high school. They have a 15-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
She said her faith has been one of her rocks in the turbulent past two years.
Benzing also plays piano in church and she and her family are members of First Baptist Church in Greenville.
She said she has had COVID twice.
“Quality healthcare is so important to a person’s quality of life,” said Benzing. “I’m proud to help people stay health and we do that every day at this hospital.”
