(ABC 6 NEWS) – On Wednesday, the Albert Lea community met at Riverland Community College to discuss the future of rural healthcare.

Panelists included politicians, state leaders and educators.

Leaders aim to build the rural healthcare workforce by getting people interested in the career, and offering resources to succeed.

But for people in Albert Lea, access to healthcare has always been a struggle.

In August, MercyOne announced they would close their Albert Lea clinic by the end of the year, leaving a sore wound for residents in the area.

In 2019, Mayo Clinic Health System reduced its services in Albert Lea.

With the health giant announcing a $5 billion expansion in Rochester a few weeks ago, those who live in Albert Lea don’t want to get left behind.

“I worry about the people who need to be in a hospital and they’re waiting in the emergency room in order to get to that,” said Joel Erickson, an Albert Lea resident. “When we ask why is that, they say we don’t have enough providers, the beds are there, but there aren’t providers to take care of the people if they were in the beds.”

One of the panelists, Chris Wolf, works at Riverland Community College as the dean of nursing, health, and wellness. According to Wolf, the future of rural health care relies on investing in student success.

The students he works with, he says, are enthusiastic about the medical field.

Things are getting better post-pandemic, but he notices opportunities need to be highlighted.

By growing a sense of community, that can lead to virtual care and community based medicine.

But retention is key.

“There are so many workers out there so how do you get them to your workforce? How do I attract them to a nursing program when they can do welding, be teachers, we’re all competing for the same talent pool. I think it’s talking about the opportunities, the benefits, and the pathways,” Wolf said.