The LBJ Hospital has added new physicians and medical support staff to its workforce with the group that traveled from Fiji last month.
LBJ CEO Faumuina John Faumuina says the new personnel will help alleviate the staffing shortage at the hospital while they work on their recruitment plan.
Six physicians for the hospital were on the Fiji flight. Five are new hires and one was a returning physician. The new hires are: a Radiologist; an Internal Medicine doctor, and three Emergency Medicine physicians. The returning physician is an obstetrician.
Two others on the flight were an Ancillary Medical Lab Technologist and one support staff engineer.
No nurses were on the group from Fiji
“We are trying to recruit RNs (Registered Nurse) from the Philippines and are working on ways to bring them down,” said Faumuina. “The number of RNs are still not confirmed as some have opted to drop out from our original list of ten due to various reasons.”
The flight from Fiji also brought 5 physicians, a dietician and two lab technicians for the Dept of Health.
KHJ News asked the CEO if LBJ is getting more doctors through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints missionary program.
“Yes,” said Faumuina. “LBJ anticipates two new US Medical Board Certified physicians in 2022. One is a US Board Certified Orthopedic-Spinal bone specialist and the other is a US Board Certified OB/Gyn.”
LDS physician missions can be up to 18 months.
“We are so very grateful for the continuous assistance from the Church of Latter Day Saints for the extension of the physician missionary to LBJ and the people of American Samoa,” said the CEO.
