Whitman Hospital faces potential staff crisis

COLFAX - Whitman Hospital & Medical Clinics is missing 45 employees and desperate to hire replacements before services are impacted.

The open positions represent 13.4% of the 335 people needed to run the hospital, said Jessica Keck, of Whitman Hospital & Medical Clinics human resources.

There are jobs open in the medical-surgical unit, operating room, cardiopulmonary department, environmental services, food and nutrition, and therapy.

"Those are all the departments we are worried about ... We're drastically understaffed right now," said Keck. "It's all over the board."

Steps were taken to less...