Governor Shapiro expresses support for rural healthcare facilities during visit to Bradford County

SAYRE, Pa. (WETM) — Residents in rural areas of Pennsylvania might have experienced issues finding the right care close to their homes, with some 850,000 Pennsylvanians without proper providers near them. To address this issue, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro spoke in Sayre on Thursday with a plan to bring in staff at rural facilities across the Commonwealth through proposals in the state budget.

In front of dozens of healthcare workers at Guthrie’s Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre on Thursday, Feb. 27, Governor Shapiro expressed the need for more doctors and nurses to help those in rural communities as facilities face staffing shortages.

By 2026, if nothing is done to help this issue, Pennsylvania is expected to have 20,000 nursing vacancies along with a shortfall of more than 6,000 mental and behavior health professionals, Shapiro said.

This problem isn’t an employment issue, as Shapiro said Pennsylvania is having higher employment than ever before, but a workforce challenge. Shapiro added that the state experiences a state trooper shortage, among others, so the state made financial investments to draw in more workers, with a similar situation happening in healthcare.

“So, that’s why my budget takes concrete steps to recruit more healthcare providers and incentivize them to work in great communities like Sayre, all across Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “To ensure that every Pennsylvanian, no matter their zip code, has access to healthcare professionals in the communities that they love to live, work, and play in,” he said.

Shapiro proposed a three-point plan to address workforce shortages in rural communities.

1. Expand the loan repayment model to apply to all mental health and behavior health professionals across Pennsylvania.
2. Create a new loan repayment program focused on healthcare professionals who take jobs in rural communities, building a stronger pipeline of healthcare professionals to the northern tier and struggling communities. The budget outlines paying off student loan debt for doctors who agree to serve at least two years in rural communities.
3. Strengthen the partnership between hospitals and nurse education programs that guarantee nursing students jobs when they graduate.

“All together, these components of my budget will create a stronger pipeline of well-trained nurses taking jobs in local communities,” Shapiro said. “Guthrie is already doing this work, and I know that public sector help is important to them, but they are also managing to do this on their own, which is really admirable,” he said. “We want to take this Guthrie model and expand it across Pennsylvania to do more,” Shapiro said.

Numerous people spoke at the conference with Shapiro to strengthen his proposals, including Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Stacy Garrity, who is a Bradford County Native and graduate of Sayre High School. Garrity spoke on the dangers of healthcare facilities closing across the state, and the need for more healthcare workers.

“Several hospitals in Pennsylvania’s rural communities they’ve closed in the last few years, and even more are at risk,” said Garrity. “Earlier this month, UPMC Cole in Potter County announced they’re going to get rid of labor and delivery services, and that leads to a six-county maternity care desert, think about that, so something must be done,” Garrity said.

Shapiro believes that helping rural healthcare is a way to generate large returns to Pennsylvania by smartly investing in smaller communities. Shapiro pointed out that Guthrie is a facility handling rural healthcare the right way, and wants to replicate that across the state.

The proposals to the 2025-26 budget are expected to be voted on in the summer, with Shapiro hoping for bipartisan support with the funding to rural healthcare.