Health Professionals + 3RNET + Network Coordinators


Behind every successful 3RNET placement, there are dedicated people hard at work helping job seekers find their first, next or forever opportunity. 

Whether it's a health professional finding their first, next, or (we hope!) forever opportunity, we're so thrilled to play a role in a community finding a mission-minded professional. 

Read below for stories of health professionals who found their first, next, or forever opportunity through 3RNET, along with the employers who have welcomed them, and 3RNET Network Coordinators who helped make it all happen. 

Amanda Stone, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Amanda Stone, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Behind every successful 3RNET placement, there are dedicated people hard at work helping job seekers find their first, next or forever opportunity. Trixie Lacas, 3RNET’s Oregon Network Coordinator who helped register Amanda, a behavioral health nurse practitioner on the 3RNET job site, allowing Amanda to connect seamlessly with a community on the southern coast of Oregon - the “unicorn” position she’d long been hoping to find. 

 

Amanda's Story


Amanda Stone, PMHNP, is a third-generation nurse. “Nursing is in my family,” she said. “I’ve always been drawn to it, drawn to helping people, helping improve the lives of others around me.”

Growing up in a suburb of Portland, Amanda was familiar with the disparities, the mental health population, and with lower socioeconomic status populations in an urbanized area. She also experienced rural populations during her time at the University of South Dakota, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2013. It was after college, while working in central Oregon, that she really developed a love for rural populations. “That was really fun,” she said of her experience, “[Central Oregon] is kind of the last hub until you get to Salem or Portland or even Boise, so just being familiar with what resources you can provide is rewarding. I’ve always been fascinated with that population and getting resources and help there.”

In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, Amanda decided she wanted to go back to graduate school. She was accepted to Montana State University and graduated in May 2024 with her doctorate in nursing practice with an emphasis in psychiatric mental health. During her time at MSU, she was an AHEC Scholar, allowing her to receive 80-100 hours of additional education, advancing her knowledge in rural population and health disparities. Area Health Education Center students participate in educational opportunities that support eight core topics, including behavioral health integration, and social determinants of health.  Not only did Amanda find valuable experience and training through participation in the AHEC program; it was at an AHEC conference that she first learned of 3RNET.

 

Trixie Lacas, Oregon's 3RNET Network Coordinator


Trixie Lacas is the program manager for rural recruitment and retention efforts at the Oregon Office of Rural Health. Her job is not just to find providers for the state’s 103 Rural and Remote Primary Care Service Areas, but to truly match providers to the communities in need. As the sole recruiter for critical access hospitals and rural health clinics across the state, she takes great pride in creating successful connections between job seekers and employers.

“My approach with any provider across the board - even if you’re a medical assistant - is to always try and match the community to the provider and the provider to the community. I want it to be a good match as much as I can be involved in it.”

Though she lives in a rural community in eastern Oregon, she has worked closely with Coast Community Health Center and deeply understands their struggles to recruit. “They are beautiful areas, but they are in a sense semi-remote because they are on the coastal side, and CCHC has really had some struggles with recruiting. It’s really exciting to see them be able to see some growth, which allows them to care for their community even more.”

 

Coast Community Health Center


Coast Community Health Center (CCHC) is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in Bandon, Oregon. The center supports two additional clinics and two School Based Health Center sites, all within Coos and Curry counties along the southern Oregon coast. CCHC works alongside Southern Coos Hospital - the area’s critical access hospital - to provide care for the coastal population.

The population along the southern coast of Oregon is primarily older, but the clinics serve patients from infancy to the elderly. The largest need, though, is for mental health care. It is difficult to recruit in rural, small Bandon, Nicole said. The job listing for a psychiatric nurse practitioner had been open for quite a while. There are many patients that go to CCHC because they cannot get in anywhere else, creating a deep need for someone like Amanda to step in.

 

Finding a "Unicorn" Job Opportunity


After Amanda registered on 3RNET at an AHEC conference, Trixie reached out to let her know what kind of services the Oregon Office of Rural Health provides. Often times when a job seeker reaches out, Trixie will run a report on 3RNET’s jobsite of all the opportunities for their speciality. From that list, she will grab about 10 and include them in her introduction email as a snapshot of what is available to them across the state.

In Amanda’s case, Trixie did a direct referral of her over to Coast Community Health Center. When Nicole reached out to Amanda after Trixie’s referral, things fell into place. The process was so smooth that when Nicole shares it with other FQHC recruiters, they tell her she has found a unicorn!

Amanda feels the same. The position at Coast Community Health Center is exactly what she had in mind for herself upon graduation. “I always told people that my dream job was to work in a rural community, small clinic, with a certain number of providers. It really is my unicorn position!”

Though it was difficult for her partner to find a job in their new community, they and their fur babies enjoyed the move. Both the weather and the people have been phenomenal, Amanda shared.

For many job seekers like Amanda, their first, next, or forever opportunity is just a connection away. As Trixie said, “[Amanda’s match] really shined a positive light on the 3RNET connection, the rural health connection, and the AHEC connection. All of those bodies connected and helped her land a spot in a place that she felt she really wanted to be!”

If you’ve found your first, next or forever career opportunity because you’ve registered on 3RNET, or if you’re an in-house recruiter who posted a position on 3RNET and filled it with a candidate who registered, we’d like to help tell your story. Email us at morin@3rnet.org to let us help tell your First, Next, or Forever story.

New FNF

This is Dr. Jasmine Usher-Ledet's Story

This is Dr. Jasmine Usher-Ledet's Story

Dr. Jasmine Usher-Ledet’s rural upbringing cultivated an admiration of the relationship family medicine doctors create with their patients. Growing up, her medical experiences were with rural doctors who knew her entire family and provided holistic care. As she trained to become a family medicine physician herself, she knew that she too wanted to provide this type of care and build relationships like the ones she had experienced as a child in Ontario, Canada.

When Jasmine applied for residency programs, she knew something small would put her on the professional path she sought. Rural programs were exactly what she was looking for. When she matched with the rural residency at Ohio State University’s rural program – she was elated! After a fantastic experience growing into the rural doc she was working to become, she moved to practicing rural medicine in Ohio.

Several years later, Dr. Usher-Ledet was ready for a new adventure. One where she could continue practicing in a rural community with an organization that understood her need for full-spectrum family care—the type of care she admired growing up and where she felt she could do the greatest good. So, she headed to 3RNET. She knew 3RNET was her best bet to find her dream job—and boy, did she find her dream job!

This is Dr. Ann Ruffo's Story

This is Dr. Ann Ruffo's Story

Dr. Ruffo was looking for an opportunity where she could succeed in the same ways she had growing up on the farm and during her time in the military: through teamwork and fostering relationships. Her diverse experience taught her there is no place she’d rather live, work, and raise her family than a rural area. 

When Dr. Ruffo registered on 3RNET, she reached out using a website feature which allowed her to tell Coal Country Community Health Center in Beulah, North Dakota she was interested in their posted position. From there, 3RNET's North Dakota Network Coordinator immediately reached out to CCCHC to let them know someone was interested.

Ann fit right in with her colleagues and, despite a snowstorm (in true North Dakota fashion) derailing a few plans during this visit, she and her husband seemed to fit right into the community, too!

This is Dr. Elizabeth Erikson’s Story

This is Dr. Elizabeth Erikson’s Story

There were several considerations for Dr. Elizabeth Erikson when contemplating the community where she’d like to establish a family medicine practice. She wanted to be a part of an organization that aligns with her goals for improving access to health care for underserved populations. Also essential was to work with those who would support her efforts focused on prevention.

Did her vision ‒ caring for multiple family members to help them improve their health together as a unit ‒ exist? And if it did, would she find the opportunity in a location that would allow her and her young family to live their best life, close to nature, the mountains, water and big skies?

Meet the 3RNET Network Coordinator who worked with the in-house recruiter in Astoria, Oregon, to find this physician whose story has a happy ending ‒ a new career in a beautiful community she and her family call home.

Dr. Rameez Chaviwala's Story

Dr. Rameez Chaviwala's Story

Rameez M. Chaviwala, MD, came to the United States to study and practice medicine from Richmond Hill in Ontario, Canada.

Upon completing his residency, Dr. Chiviwala’s colleagues encouraged him to register with 3RNET. Knowing that the non-profit organization offered him essential resources for navigating the complex J-1 Visa Waiver Program and could help him find a practice opportunity that aligned with his career goals and medical-home practice philosophy.

Meet the 3RNET Network Coordinators who worked with a health center Executive Director and Human Resources Director in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, to find Dr. Chaviwala, whose story has a happy ending ‒ a new career in a Federally Qualified Health Clinic (FQHC) located in the picturesque Northern Pocono Mountains.

Share Your Story

We hope 3RNET is a powerful tool within your recruitment and retention strategy. 

Please keep in mind as you find or hire someone through 3RNET to please let us know.

If you hire someone for their first, next, or (we hope) forever job, we may showcase your success like we've done in the stories above.

I'm Ready To Tell My Story